The import of capital machinery sustained a hefty growth in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, amid a marginal growth in the country's overall imports, officials said.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) grew by 2.48 per cent to US$16.60 billion during the July-November period of FY 16, from $16.20 billion in the same period of the FY 15, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, dropped by 1.46 per cent to $17.48 billion in the first five months of FY 16, from $17.74 billion in the same period of FY 15.
"The country's overall imports decreased in terms of value, not volume, due to falling trend of commodities prices in the global market," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE on Monday.
He also said the existing trend of overall imports may continue in the coming months also, if the downward price of essential commodities, including petroleum products, persists in the international market.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions rose by 20.10 per cent to $1.38 billion during the first five months of the current FY, against $1.15 billion of the same period of FY 15.
"Higher imports for power and energy, food processing, garment, pharmaceuticals, plastic, printing, packing and telecom industries have contributed to raise the overall capital machinery imports during the period under review," another central banker explained.
Import of petroleum products dropped by 41.10 per cent to $1.10 billion during the period following lower prices of fuel oils in the global market, from $1.87 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Import of consumer goods came down to $1.92 billion in the five months of FY 16, from $1.95 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
On the other hand, food-grain imports, particularly of rice and wheat, also dropped by 0.74 per cent to $561.54 million during the period, from $565.74 million in the same period of FY 15. Industrial raw material import rose only by 0.75 per cent during the priod under review. Import of intermediate goods, like - coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, increased by 7.32 per cent.
During the period, import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 12.60 per cent growth to $1.87 billion, from $1.66 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
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