India's current account deficit at record 4.8 percent of GDP

Mumbai, June 27: India's current account deficit widened to a record 4.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in the financial year ended March 31, due to high imports of gold and oil and sluggish exports, official data showed today.

The current account deficit stood at $87.8 billion, or 4.8 percent of GDP in the financial year 2012-13 as compared to $78.2 billion or 4.2 percent of GDP recorded in the previous year, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"Burgeoning trade deficit along with significant decline in invisible earnings caused widening of CAD during the year," the RBI said.

The situation would have been even worse had the number not shown improvements in the fourth quarter of the financial year under review.

For the January-March quarter the current account deficit moderated sharply to 3.6 percent of GDP from a historically high level of 6.7 percent of GDP reported in the previous quarter.

IANS