Imports jump by 17.24pc in last 10 months

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FE Report
The country's overall imports grew by 17.24 per cent with intermediate goods marking the highest growth at 19.23 per cent during the first 10 months of fiscal 2006-07 over the same period of the previous fiscal.
The higher import growth of intermediate goods indicates that there is a rising trend of the country's overall industrial production which will also contribute to the economic growth, official sources said.
"The higher import of intermediate goods is good for our industrial production," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Saturday.
Intermediate goods worth $1.121 billion were imported during the period compared to $940.89 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
Meanwhile, the industrial production grew by 11.39 per cent during July-February period of fiscal 2006-07 over that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data shows.
The letters of credit (LCs) against imports worth US$ 13.281 billion were settled during July-April period of fiscal 2006-07 compared with $11.327 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
However, import LCs worth $14.402 billion were opened in the period as against $12.644 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The growth was 13.90 per cent.
The BB official also said the overall import trend remained satisfactory.
"The raising trend of import may continue in the near future to meet growing demand for some commodities in the local markets," he observed.
The import of capital machinery reached $1.295 billion during the period as against $1.087 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal, the data showed.
However, the import of petroleum products was recorded at $1.744 billion during the period compared to $1.521 billion of the same period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, the import of foodgrains and other consumer goods increased by 11.46 per cent and 40.84 per cent respectively over same period of the previous fiscal.
The import of foodgrains was worth $400.51 million during the period as against $359.32 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.