Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall imports decreased slightly in April this year following lower prices of essential commodities including fuel oil in the global market, officials said.
Opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, fell by 5.56 per cent to US$ 3.30 billion in April 2015 from $3.50 billion in the corresponding period of the previous calendar year.
On the other hand, the settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, dropped by 1.22 per cent to $3.0 billion during the period under review from $3.04 billion in the same period in the previous year.
“The country’s overall imports, in value term, decreased during the period under review mainly due to lower prices of petroleum products in the global market,” a senior official of Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, explained.
The import orders for fuel oils dropped by 58 per cent to $179.96 million in April last from $428.51million in the same month of the last calendar year, the BB data showed.
The central banker also said import orders for different essential items, including scrap vessels, back-to-back import for readymade garment (RMG) products and capital machinery, increased during the period under review.
