Detailed commodity data available till August shows that during the first five months of the current financial year, non-oil, non-gold import increased by 23.1 per cent as compared with an increase of 11.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year. The trade deficit in the current financial year so far has widened, in fact is double of last year.
Yet more protectionist pressures might be on the pipeline. First, evidence from surveys shows that public pressure for more economic protection not only has been mounting since the mid-2000s, namely well ahead of the crisis, but has intensified since its start.