Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s overall imports grew by nearly 15 per cent in the first 11 months of the just concluded fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, thanks to a jump by 125.84 per cent in import of food grains, officials said.
The import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) increased by 14.93 per cent to US$ 33.88 billion during the July-May period of FY ‘14 from $29.48 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics, released on Sunday.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 13.30 per cent to $37.52 billion in the first 11 months of FY ’14 from $33.12 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
“The overall imports increased during the period under review mainly due to higher import of food gains along with consumer goods, capital machinery and industrial raw materials,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The import of food grains particularly rice and wheat rose to $1.31 billion during the July-May period of FY ’14 from $580.40 million in the same period of the last fiscal year, the BB data showed.
“We expect that the rice import will decline in the coming months due to seasonal impact,” the central banker noted.
He also said the import of consumer goods particularly food items increased significantly because of the holy Ramadan.
The import of overall consumer goods increased by 43.15 per cent to $4.24 billion in the July-May period of the FY ’14 from $2.96 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Generally, a large quantity of essential commodities is imported to meet the additional demand of consumers during the holy Ramadan, the month of fasting, the central banker explained.
The import of capital machinery increased by 16.96 per cent to $2.29 billion during the period under review from $1.96 billion in the corresponding period of the FY ’13.
Industrial raw material import rose by 12.53 per cent to $13.51 billion during the July-May period of the FY ’14 from $12.00 billion in the same period of FY ’13.
Import of intermediate goods like coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels declined by 0.66 per cent to $2.59 billion during the period under review from $2.61 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
However, import of petroleum products rose to $4.08 billion in the first 11 months of FY ’14 from $3.93 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 19.43 per cent growth to $3.15 billion compared to that of $2.63 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
BBN/SSR/AD-07July14-2:17 am (BST)
