Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s overall imports grew by more than 11per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2014-15 due mainly to higher import of petroleum products and capital machinery, officials said.
“The central bank expects that the rising trend of overall imports will continue in the coming months if the political stability continues,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) increased by 11.10 per cent to US$12.94 billion during the July-October of FY 15 from $11.65 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 12.01 per cent to $ 13.98 billion in the first four months of FY 15 from $12.48 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
According to the official figures, the import of fuel oils shot by 35.04 per cent to $1.55 billion during the period under review from $1.15 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The import of petroleum products may decrease in the coming months due to seasonal effect, the central banker explained.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions rose by 28.20 per cent to $917.20 million during the July-October period of the FY 15 against $715.43 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
“Higher import for power and energy, textile machinery, electronic industry machinery, steel and engineering industries and food processing have contributed to raise the overall capital machinery imports during the period under review,” the BB official noted.
Food-grain imports, particularly of rice and wheat, dropped by 26.02 per cent to $415.36 million during the period of the FY 15 from $561.43 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Import of intermediate goods, like – coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, fell by 1.19 per cent to $1.02 billion in the first four months of the current FY from $ 1.03 billion in the same period of the FY 14.
On the other hand, industrial raw material import increased by 4.13 per cent to $ 4.95 billion during the period under review from $4.76 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
During the period, the import of machinery for miscellaneous industries witnessed a 15.12 per cent growth to $1.34 billion from $1.16 million in the corresponding period of the FY 14.
BBN/SSR/AD-01Dec14-1:18 pm (BST)
