Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall imports grew by 11.98 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal year (FY), thanks to a jump by over 49 per cent increase in import of fuel oils, officials said.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs)
rose to US$6.43 billion during the July-August period of FY 2014-15 from $5.74 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 10.42 per cent to $7.13 billion in the first two months of FY
15 from $6.46 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
"The imports increased during the period under review mainly due to higher import of petroleum products besides capital machinery
and industrial raw materials," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the upward trend of imports may continue in the coming months, if the political stability continues.
Fuel oils import increased by 49.05 per cent to $840.40 million during the period against $563.85 million of the corresponding period of the
previous fiscal.
The import of food grains particularly rice and wheat fell to $195.24 million during the period under review from $247.97 million of the
corresponding period of the previous fiscal while other consumer goods rose to $575.84 million from $490.91 million.
Import of capital machinery ---industrial equipment used for production --- rose by 25.34 per cent to $476.64 million during the
period against $380.28 million of the corresponding period of FY 14.
However, import of intermediate goods like coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels dropped by14.56 per cent to $487.75 million during
the period from $570.84 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, industrial raw material import increased by 4.83 per cent to $2.46 billion during the period under review from $2.35
billion of the corresponding period of the FY 14.
During the period, machinery for miscellaneous industries import witnessed a 25.09 per cent growth to $657.01 million compared with
$525.22 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
BBN/SSR/AD-05Oct14-9:40 pm (BST)