Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s overall imports crossed US$38 billion-mark in the just concluded fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 despite lower prices of commodities particularly fuel oil in the global market, officials said.
The country’s imports grew more than 3.0 per cent in the FY 15 mainly due to higher import of capital machinery, they added.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LC) increased by 3.41 per cent to US$38.45 billion during the July-June period of FY15 as against $37.19 billion in the previous fiscal, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
However, the import growth dropped to 3.41 per cent in the FY 15 from 14.93 per cent a year ago.
On the other hand, the opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 2.99 per cent to $43.07 billion in the FY 15 from $41.82 billion in the previous fiscal.
“The overall imports increased in the FY 15 mainly because of higher import of capital machinery to meet the growing demand for industrial equipment in Bangladesh,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said lower prices of commodities, particularly petroleum products, on the global market contributed to a decrease in the overall import- payment pressures in the last fiscal.
Fuel-oil-import bill dropped 24.36 per cent to $3.46 billion in the last fiscal from $4.58 billion a year ago thanks to market slump.
However, import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for production was up by 22.97 per cent to $3.10 billion in the past FY as against $2.52 billion of the previous fiscal.
Higher imports for sectors like textiles, leather and tannery, garment industry, food processing and telecom industry contributed to the rise in the overall capital-machinery import, the central banker added.
The import of intermediate goods, like coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, increased 18.26 per cent to $3.35 billion in the FY 15 from $2.84 billion in the FY 14.
On the other hand, the import of industrial raw materials rose by 3.10 per cent to $15.18 billion in the FY 15 from $14.72 billion a year ago.
The import of food-grains, particularly rice and wheat, increased 6.25 per cent to $1.50 billion in the last fiscal from $1.41 billion in the FY 14, the BB data showed.
BBN/SSR/AD