Economic Deja Vu?

I came across this interesting quote recently (see this BBC article in this context):

‘In return for her exports India wanted little but gold… The balance of trade was unfavourable to the West, and resulted in a serious drain of gold from the Roman Empire. This was recognised by Pliny, who, inveighing against the degenerate habits of his day, computed the annual drain to the East as 100 million sesterces, “so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women”. The drain of gold to the East was an important cause of the financial difficulties in the Roman Empire from the reign of Nero onwards.’

A.L. Basham, ‘The Wonder that was India’ (Pliny is quoted from his ‘Natural History’ Bk 12.18.