The country's overall import increased by more than 12 per cent or US$416.85 million in November over the previous month, mainly due to higher import of fuel oils and fertilisers, officials said.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) rose to $3.77 billion in November 2016 from $3.36 billion in October 2016. It was $3.20 billion in November 2015, according to the central bank's provisional data, released on Monday.
On the other hand, the opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, grew by 14 per cent to $4.37 billion last month from $3.83 billion in October. It was $4.10 million in November 2015.
"The overall import increased significantly in November mainly due to higher import of petroleum products, fertilisers and capital machinery," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the import of fuel oils and fertilisers has jumped during the period under review to meet the growing demand for the items ahead of the Boro cropping season.
The import of fuel oils rose by 53.84 per cent to $306.52 million in November 2016 from $199.25 million in October, while import of fertilisers reached $90.97 million from $67.94 million.
The rising trend in capital machinery import continued until November for implementation of different ongoing infrastructure development projects across the country.
"We expect that the upward trend in capital machinery import will continue in the coming months also to meet the growing demand for industrial equipments in the country," the central banker explained.
The import of capital machinery or industrial equipments used for production rose by 14.02 per cent to $319.10 million in November from $279.86 million a month before.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of a leading state-owned commercial bank said the overall import increased substantially in November mainly due to seasonal effect.
He also said the country's import may increase significantly by the end of this fiscal year (FY), 2016-17, following higher import of capital machinery.
The import of capital machinery jumped by nearly 83 per cent to $2.09 billion during the July-October period of the ongoing FY against $1.14 billion of the same period of the previous FY, the BB data showed.
Bangladesh's overall import grew by 4.22 per cent to $38.45 billion in the FY 16 from $40.08 billion in the previous fiscal.
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