The country's overall imports grew by 11.59 per cent in the first half (H1) of the current fiscal year (FY), 2013-`14, despite political uncertainty, officials said Tuesday.
"The overall imports increased in the first six months of FY `14 mainly due to higher import of food grains, particularly rice and wheat, besides capital machinery and industrial raw materials," a senior official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) increased by 11.59 per cent to US$ 17.80 billion during the July-December period of FY `14 from $15.95 billion in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal, according to central bank statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 10.30 per cent to $18.81 billion in the first six months of FY `14 from $17.05 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
The BB official said the overall imports had been badly affected since October last year following frequent spells of blockade and shutdown, enforced by the opposition parties over the formation of a poll-time government.
"We expect that the upward trend of imports will continue in the next months as political stability started coming back in the country after holding of the parliamentary elections on January 5 last," the central banker noted.
The actual import of food grains jumped by more than 100 per cent to $675.73 million during the July-December period of FY `14 from $337.08 million in the same period of the last fiscal year, the BB data showed.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for production has increased significantly during the period under review despite the political turmoil.
The import of capital machinery has increased by 16.60 per cent to $1.14 billion in the first six months of FY `14 from $981.30 million in the corresponding period of FY `13.
Import of intermediate goods, like coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels increased by 3.31 per cent to $1.45 billion in H1 of FY `14 from $1.40 billion in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year.
Industrial raw materials' import rose by 11.61 per cent to $7.17 billion during the period under review from $6.42 billion in the same period of FY `13.
However, import of petroleum products dropped by more than 16 per cent to $1.91 billion in the first six months of FY `14 from $2.27 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
"The import of petroleum products may increase in the coming months because of seasonal effect," the BB official explained.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 20.53 per cent growth to $1.75 billion compared to that of $1.45 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Imports up by 11.59pc in H1
Siddique Islam | Published: February 05, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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