$42bn L/Cs opened during last fiscal year

There has been an upturn in opening of Letters of Credit (LC) for imports during the last fiscal year ending June 30, reports bdnews24.com.

According to data released by Bangladesh Bank on Thursday, Bangladesh businesses opened LCs worth $41.82 billion in 2013-14 FY, which is 16.21 per cent higher than the previous year's $35.94 billion.

It shows LCs for rice imports rose by 1075 per cent, for importing onions went up by 62.29 per cent, those for importing edible oil rose by 54.30 per cent and for capital machinery by 36 per cent.

A media statement of Bangladesh Bank said: "The 36 per cent growth in import of capital machinery is a record."

According to the release, LCs worth $3.88 billion were opened for machinery imports, $366.4 million for rice, $1.54 billion for edible oil, and $187.20 million for onion in 2013-14.

In the previous FY, the figures were $2.8 billion, $31.18 million, $1.5 billion and $115.3 million respectively.

LCs worth $37.03 billion were opened import from various countries in the 2009-10 fiscal. The figure stood at $35.98 billion at FY 2010-11.

"The first few months of the past fiscal witnessed a slump in imports like the year before it," said Zaid Bakht, research director at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

"But businesspersons have regained confidence when political stability returned following the election on January 5. So imports of capital machinery and rice have increased."