The last time India’s current account turned positive was in the March quarter of 2006-07 at $4.2 billion
India’s current account may turn surplus in the June quarter after a gap of 12 years, the finance ministry said, as a stringent coronavirus lockdown squeezed domestic economic activity and crimped imports.
The last time India’s current account turned positive was in the March quarter of 2006-07 at $4.2 billion. However, for the full year, the current account was positive for three consecutive years from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Data for the March quarter is expected to be released by this month’s end.
“Fortunately, India’s external sector has acquired resilience, manifest in improvement in balance of payments (BoP) position despite being challenged by net FPI (foreign portfolio investments) outflows for some time,” the finance ministry said in its latest macroeconomic report for May. “A comfortable BoP rests on manageable current account deficit (CAD), prudent external debt and robust availability of foreign exchange reserves adequate to finance more than 11 months of imports. As a considerable drop in domestic economic activity significantly curtails imports, India’s current account balance may generate a small surplus in the first quarter of 2020-21. India’s CAD is also supported by low levels of external debt servicing,” it said.
Source: livemint
