Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s overall import increased significantly in September this year over the previous month due mainly to higher import of capital machinery, officials said.
“Import of capital machinery particularly for leather, ready-made garment (RMG), pharmaceuticals and telecommunications has turned positive in September from negative in the last three months,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said.
The import of capital machinery rose to US$ 137.15 million in September last from $98.01 million in the previous month, according to the central bank statistics.
“Higher import of scrapped vessels, edible oil, wheat, pulses and spices has also contributed to the increase in the overall imports during the period under review,” the central banker noted.
Opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, increased by nearly 22 percent to US$ 3.188 billion in September from $2.613 billion of the previous month, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, the settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, also rose by nearly 9.0 per cent to $2.766 billion in September 2012 from $2.537 billion in August last.
The BB official also said the upward trend of import may continue this month as the commercial banks have been advised to open fresh LCs for import of essential items to meet domestic demand for importable goods.
On October 1, the BB advised the banks to take necessary measures to keep stable the prices of essential items by ensuring adequate supply of the essential consumer goods ahead of the two major festivals.
Meanwhile, the country’s overall import payments decreased by 2.53 per cent to $8.139 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2012-13 from $8.351 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
On the other hand, import orders also dropped by 10.21 per cent to $8.667 billion during the period under review from $9.653 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Bankers, however, said the declining trend of overall import may continue in the near future following the BB’s ongoing ‘cautious’ monetary policy to contain the inflationary pressure on the economy.
“Most of banks are not interested to open LCs for less important products, like consumer and luxury goods, in line with the central bank’s advice,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said.
The central bank earlier asked the commercial banks to discourage extending credits to less productive sectors for reining in the inflationary pressure on the economy.
BBN/SSR/AD-25Oct12-11:45 pm (BST)
