Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall imports grew by 2.48 per cent in the first five months of current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16 while higher import of capital machinery continued, officials said.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) rose to US$16.60 billion during the July-November period of this fiscal from $16.20 billion in the same period of the FY 15, according to the central bank latest statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, dropped by 1.46 per cent to $17.48 billion in the five months of FY 16 from $17.74 billion in the same period of the FY 15.
“The import of capital machinery sustained a hefty growth during the period under review amid a marginal growth in the country’s overall imports,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka on Monday.
He also said the overall imports decreased in terms of value not volume as falling trend of commodities prices in the global market.
“The existing trend of overall imports may continue in the coming months if the downward price of essential commodities including petroleum products in the international market persists,” the central banker explained.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions rose by 20.10 per cent to $1.38 billion during the period under review against $1.15 billion of the same period of FY 15.
The import of petroleum products dropped by 41.10 per cent to $1.10 billion during the period under review from $1.87 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal due to lower prices of fuel oils in the global market.
The import of consumer goods came down to $1.92 billion in the five months of FY 16 from $1.95 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
On the other hand, food-grain imports, particularly of rice and wheat, also dropped by 0.74 per cent to $561.54 million during the period from $565.74 million in the same period of the FY 15.
Industrial raw material import rose only by 0.75 per cent to $6.21 billion in the five months of FY 16 from $6.16 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
However, import of intermediate goods, like - coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, increased by 7.32 per cent to $1.43 billion during the period under review from $1.33 billion in the same period of the FY 15.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 12.60 per cent growth to $1.87 billion from $1.66 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
BBN/SSR/AD