Private-sector credit growth increased further in October as the country's overall import payments moved up slightly following higher import of capital machinery, officials said.
"Rising trend of the private-sector credit growth continued until October last as the country's overall business activities are picking up gradually after return of political stability," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The growth in private-sector credit rose to 13.22 per cent in October last from 12.88 per cent in September 2015, according to the central bank's latest statistics. The credit growth was 12.69 per cent in August.
After the political turmoil in the first quarter of 2015, a favourable business environment has helped rise private sector credit growth, the central banker said.
He also said the upward trend of private-sector credit growth would continue in the coming months if the existing political stability persists.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said the private sector credit growth increased slightly during the period under the review following upward trend of import payments.
He also said the import payment settlements for petroleum products along with capital machinery have pushed up the demand for such credit.
Country's actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) increased by more than 12 per cent to US$3.25 billion in October last from $2.89 billion of the previous month.
The import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions rose by more than 106 per cent to $316.55 million in October last from $153.47 million in September 2015, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, import of petroleum products rose to $238.38 million during the period under review from $153.01 million in September 2015, mainly due to seasonal effect.
Echoing the BB's official, the private banker said the rising trend of private-sector credit demand would continue if different development projects, particularly the infrastructural ones, are implemented properly.
The total outstanding loans with the private sector rose to Tk 5946.77 billion in October 2015 from Tk 5252.33 billion in the same month of 2014. It was Tk 5896.86 billion in September last.
The central bank has set the ceiling for private-sector credit growth at 14.30 per cent for the July-December period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16.
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