Imports grow by 11pc in Q1

The country's overall imports grew by nearly 11 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY), 2014-15 due mainly to higher import of fuel oils and capital machinery, officials said.
"The upward trend of overall imports may continue in the coming months if the political stability continues," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Thursday.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) increased by 10.92 per cent to US$9.80 billion during the July-September of FY '15 from $8.83 billion in the corresponding period of  the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 12.81 per cent to $ 10.83 billion in the Q1 of FY '15 from $9.60 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The import of petroleum products shot by 53.02 per cent to $1.26 billion during the Q1 of FY '15 from $821.81 million in the same period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
"We expect that the import of petroleum products may fall in the coming months due to seasonal effect," the central banker observed.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for production rose by 22.03 per cent to $691.36 million during the period under review against $566.54 million of the corresponding period of FY '14.
"Higher import for power and energy, food processing, steel and engineering industries have contributed to raise the overall capital machinery imports during the period under review," another BB official said.
Foodgrain imports, particularly rice and wheat, dropped by 32.90 per cent to $299.72 million during the period from $446.70 million in the same period of the FY '14.
The import of other consumer goods came down to $1.17 billion in the Q1 of the FY '15 from $1.18 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Import of intermediate goods like  coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, fell by 7.97 per cent to $752.29 million in the Q1 of the current FY from $817.48 million in the corresponding period of the FY '14.
On the other hand, import of industrial raw materials rose by 2.20 per cent to $ 3.74 billion during the period under review from $3.66 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 24.78 per cent growth to $967.93 million from $806.08 million in the same period of the FY '14.
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