Imports go up by 25pc in 10 months
Siddique Islam | Thursday, 5 June 2008
The country's overall import grew by 25.07 per cent during the first ten months of the current fiscal over that of the same period of the previous fiscal, officials said.
"The import trend is still in right track on the basis of country's overall economic performance," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Wednesday.
He also said the overall import may fall slightly in the coming months due to seasonal impact. Most of the businessmen are not opening import letters of credit (LCs) ahead of the national budget, he added.
Import LCs worth US$16.560 billion were settled during July-April period of fiscal 2007-08 as against that of $13.240 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
"The overall import increased during the period due mainly to higher import of essential items including food grains, industrial raw materials and petroleum products to meet the domestic demand," he observed.
During the period, the import of food grains and other consumer goods scaled up by 231.09 per cent and 37 per cent respectively over the same period of the previous fiscal.
The import of food grains stood at $1.321 billion during the period as against $398.99 million of the corresponding period of last fiscal, the BB's data showed.
However, import of industrial raw materials witnessed a 27.97 per cent growth to $6.321 billion during the period under review against $4.940 billion of the same period of the previous fiscal while the import of industrial spares and accessories reached $1.169 billion compared to that of $964.90 million during the period.
Import of intermediate goods was worth $1.353 billion in the same period as against the same of $1.121 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, opening of fresh LCs for capital machinery marked gradual rise but settlement of LCs in the same was negative.
The central bank officials are expecting that the settlement of LCs for capital machinery will increase shortly as opening of fresh LCs have increased in recent months.
On March 27 last, the BB asked the commercial banks to discuss with entrepreneurs on ways and means to increase capital machinery import for establishing new industries across the country.
Import LCs worth US$1.460 billion were opened for capital machinery during July-April period of this fiscal as against $1.270 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
However, LCs for capital machinery worth $1.167 billion were settled during the period compared to $1.293 billion of the corresponding period of last fiscal.
"The import trend is still in right track on the basis of country's overall economic performance," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Wednesday.
He also said the overall import may fall slightly in the coming months due to seasonal impact. Most of the businessmen are not opening import letters of credit (LCs) ahead of the national budget, he added.
Import LCs worth US$16.560 billion were settled during July-April period of fiscal 2007-08 as against that of $13.240 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
"The overall import increased during the period due mainly to higher import of essential items including food grains, industrial raw materials and petroleum products to meet the domestic demand," he observed.
During the period, the import of food grains and other consumer goods scaled up by 231.09 per cent and 37 per cent respectively over the same period of the previous fiscal.
The import of food grains stood at $1.321 billion during the period as against $398.99 million of the corresponding period of last fiscal, the BB's data showed.
However, import of industrial raw materials witnessed a 27.97 per cent growth to $6.321 billion during the period under review against $4.940 billion of the same period of the previous fiscal while the import of industrial spares and accessories reached $1.169 billion compared to that of $964.90 million during the period.
Import of intermediate goods was worth $1.353 billion in the same period as against the same of $1.121 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, opening of fresh LCs for capital machinery marked gradual rise but settlement of LCs in the same was negative.
The central bank officials are expecting that the settlement of LCs for capital machinery will increase shortly as opening of fresh LCs have increased in recent months.
On March 27 last, the BB asked the commercial banks to discuss with entrepreneurs on ways and means to increase capital machinery import for establishing new industries across the country.
Import LCs worth US$1.460 billion were opened for capital machinery during July-April period of this fiscal as against $1.270 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
However, LCs for capital machinery worth $1.167 billion were settled during the period compared to $1.293 billion of the corresponding period of last fiscal.