Overall imports drop in May

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The country's overall import dropped significantly in May over that of the previous month following less procurement of food grains particularly rice from abroad, officials said.

Opening of fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports dropped by 27. 15 per cent while the settlement of LCs fell by 13.47 per cent during the period under review, according to the central bank statistics released Thursday.

"The overall imports declined during the period due mainly to fall in rice imports," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.

He also said rice imports may decline further in the current month because of seasonal impact and ensuing national budget.

The import LCs worth US$1.932 billion were opened in May last as against $2.653 billion of the previous month, the BB's data showed.

On the other hand, settlement of LCs for import was $1.657 billion during the month compared to $1.915 billion of the previous month of this calendar year.

He also said the opening of LCs for import of some essential items including rice and wheat also dropped in terms value and quantity due to seasonal impact.

"The opening of LCs for imports was high in April because the government itself had opened LCs for importing rice worth $172 million," another BB official said while explaining the higher import situation in the month of April.

In May this year, opening of LCs for rice declined by $174.42 million in terms of value while LCs for sugar by $52.65 million, for milk food by $1.72 million and for pulses by $8.87 million.

On the other hand, opening of LCs for rice import declined by 116,000 tonnes in terms of quantity. But sugar import increased by 82,000 tonnes and pulses by 29,000 tonnes during the month.