H1 imports grow by 10pc

Overall imports made by the country in the first half (H1) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 grew over 10 per cent. This is due mainly to higher import of capital machinery that goes for setting up industries, according to an official disclosure.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) grew by 10.08 per cent to US$19.59 billion during the July-December period of FY 15 against the corresponding $17.80-billion mark of the previous fiscal.
Such was the state of the import segment of the country's external trade as per the central bank statistics, released Sunday.
On the other hand, the opening of LCs--generally known as import orders--rose by 13.16 per cent to $21.28 billion in the first six months of the FY 15 from $18.81 billion in the same period of FY 14.
"The country's overall imports may fall in the month of January due to political turmoil," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE about the outlook of the start of the second half.
He also said the overall imports decreased slightly in December last as there was a sense of panic stemming from political chaos.The import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for production rose 28.54 per cent to $1.47 billion during the first six months of this fiscal against $1.14 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
"Higher imports for sectors like power and energy, leather and tannery, electronics, food processing, shipbuilding, ceramic and melamine have contributed to the rise in the overall capital-machinery import during the period under review," the central banker explained.
However, the food-grain import, particularly of rice and wheat, increased a bit by 0.65 per cent to $680.11 million during the July-December period of FY 15 from $675.73 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Fuel-oil imports increased 7.03 per cent to $2.04 billion during the H1 of FY 15 against $1.91 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
"The lower prices of petroleum products on the global market have contributed to decrease in the import-payment pressures during the period under review," the BB official noted.
The import of intermediate goods, like coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, increased 8.81 per cent to $1.57 billion from $1.45 billion in the same period of the FY 14.
On the other hand, the import of industrial raw materials rose by 6.34 per cent to $7.63 billion during the period under review from $7.17 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 13.91 per cent growth to $1.99 billion from $1.75 billion in the corresponding period of FY 14.
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