The electronics trade deficit hit a record $56 billion in FY22 as imports and exports hit new highs, adding pressure to the country’s current account at a time where a spike in oil prices has already inflated the import bill.

Electronics remained the second largest contributor to the country’s overall trade deficit, after petroleum and petroleum products.
While electronics exports jumped 41% from a year earlier to $15 billion, imports jumped 35% to $70.8 billion, Commerce Department data showed. Previously, the trade deficit hit a record $47 billion in fiscal 2019.

However, the deficit will shrink in the coming years as exports continue to grow at a faster pace, thanks to various production-related incentive programs announced for the sector, a senior government official told Reuters. FE.

A substantial portion of FY22 imports, the official said, included electronic components, and growth in purchases of telecommunications instruments, including cellphones, was negligible. This also means that the national added value increases.

Electronic components alone saw a 67% increase in imports to $25.6 billion in FY22, while imports of computer hardware and peripherals jumped 45.4% to 15 .2 billion. Similarly, imports of consumer electronics soared 27.7% to $5.8 billion, while imports of electronic instruments and telecommunications instruments rose 21.4% and 2. 3%, respectively, to reach $9 billion and $15.2 billion.

Similarly, electronics exports were driven by a 66% jump in the telecommunications instruments segment, which includes mobile phones, to $7.4 billion, nearly half of the country’s overall electronics supplies in the country. last exercise. Consumer electronics exports soared 33% to $0.9 billion, while those of electronic instruments and electronic components rose 17.5% and 23%, respectively, to $3. $3 billion and $3 billion. Exports of computer hardware and peripherals rose 32% to $415 million last fiscal year.