Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall imports for industrial sectors grew by 6.47 per cent in the last fiscal year (FY), thanks to higher import of capital machinery, officials said.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) rose to US$30.20 billion during the July-June period of FY 2015-16 from $28.36 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by 6.74 per cent to $33.50 billion in the FY 16 from $31.39 billion in the previous fiscal.
Import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions – increased by 14.10 per cent to $3.53 billion in FY 16 as against $3.10 billion of the previous fiscal year, the data showed.
“We expect that the overall industrial imports will increase in the coming months following implementation of different infrastructure development projects across the country,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said higher import for sectors including textile, garment industry, pharmaceuticals, food processing, energy and power, printing industries and telecom industry have contributed to raise the overall capital machinery import in the last fiscal.
Talking to BBN, a senior banker said lower interest rate along with decreasing trend of capital machinery prices in the global market has encouraged the entrepreneurs to import capital machinery during the period under review.
The rising trend of capital machinery imports will continue in the near future if the government ensures adequate infrastructural facilities along with supplies of gas and power, particularly in the industrial units, according to the banker.
The import of intermediate goods, like - coal, hard coke, clinker and scrap vessels, decreased by 0.10 per cent to $3.35 billion in the FY 16 from more than $3.35 billion in the FY 15.
On the other hand, the import of industrial raw materials rose by 3.21 per cent to $15.67 billion in the FY 16 from $15.18 billion a year ago.
The import of machinery for miscellaneous industries was up by 14.12 per cent to $4.30 billion in the last fiscal from $3.77 billion in the FY 15, according to the official data.
BBN/SSR/AD