Declining trend in the country's overall import orders continued until November due mainly to the ongoing political turmoil centring the next parliamentary election, officials said Wednesday.
Opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, decreased by 0.89 per cent to $2.85 billion in November last from $2.87 billion of the previous month. It was $3.15 billion in September last.
"The overall imports may fall further in the coming months if the ongoing political confrontation continues," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the country's imports started falling since October last because of the political impasse.
"Import orders for different essential products including petroleum, capital machinery and back-to-back imports for readymade garment (RMG) sector decreased during the period under review," he noted.
The import orders for fuel oil dropped by nearly 15 per cent to $324.37 million in November last from $380.37 million in October 2013 while the import orders for capital machinery came down to $168.28 million from $173.77 million, the BB data showed.
Back-to-back import orders for the RMG, the country's highest foreign currency earning sector, fell by more than 9.0 per cent to $435.09 million last month from $478.89 million of the previous month.
"The back-to-back import orders for RMG products including fabrics and accessories have decreased during the period under review because of the prevailing political uncertainty along with labour unrest," the central banker explained.
On the other hand, the settlement of LCs, generally known as actual import, increased by 1.52 per cent to $2.86 billion in November 2013 from $2.82 billion in September, he added.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said most of the importers are now pursuing a 'go-slow' policy to avoid financial risk due to the political turmoil.
He also said the supply chain has been severely affected since October last following the frequent blockades and shutdowns, enforced by opposition parties over the structure of the poll-time government has also contributed to decline in the import orders.
"The country's overall imports may fall further in the coming months if the confrontational political situation continues," the private banker noted.