Country's merchandise exports grew by 1.6 per cent to 24.16 billion US dollars in April this year, whereas imports increased by 10.9 per cent. Imports during the reported month stood at 41.95 billion US dollars . Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters in New Delhi today that due to high imports, the trade deficit rose to 17.8 billion US dollars. He attributed the widening of trade deficit in the first month of the current fiscal to high gold imports.Gold and silver imports during April, 2013 jumped by 138 per cent to 7.5 billion US dollars against 3.1 billion US dollars in the year-ago period.