Myanmar's trade deficit increases in 2015-2016 fiscal year

Myanmar's trade deficit in the fiscal year of April 2015 to March 2016 reached roughly 5.3 billion U.S. dollars, increasing by 1.12 billion dollars year on year, the country's ministry of commerce said Thursday.

The export value for the period was over 10.5 billion dollars while the import value surpassed 15.8 billion dollars.

The country mainly exports natural gas, jade and rice while major import items are refined oil and fuel, industrial machines and automobile parts.

The lack of ability to produce value-added products has made trade deficit a chronic problem for the Southeastern Asian country's economy.

Trade deficit is one of the factors behind Myanmar's increasing demand for hard currency such as U.S. dollars and low foreign currency reserve, according to local economist Aung Ko Ko. Endi