Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall import registered a significant fall in July, the first month of the current fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 because of lower commodity prices in the global market, officials said.
The settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual import, dropped by 18.42 per cent to US$2.80 billion in July of the FY 17 from $3.43 billion in the same period of the last fiscal.
On the other hand, opening of fresh LCs against import, generally known as import orders, increased by 2.86 per cent to $3.09 billion in July from $3.01 billion in the same period a year ago, according to the central bank latest statistics.
“We expect that the overall imports may pick up in the coming months as the import orders increased in July,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the import decreased in term of value not quantity.
“The overall import normally falls after announcement of the national budget and the Ramadan,” the central banker explained.
BBN/SSR/AD