Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Country’s private sector credit growth fell slightly in April last over the previous month, following a downward trend of imports due to lower prices of essential commodities including fuel oil in the global market, bankers said.
The growth in private sector credit flow came down to 13.27 per cent in April from 13.63 per cent in March. It was 13.61 per cent in February 2015, according to the central bank latest statistics.

“It’s a temporary phenomenon. The private sector credit growth may rise, as implementation of different development projects, particularly the infrastructural ones, will get pace in the coming months,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) told BBN in Dhaka.

He also said the overall imports normally decrease in April before the national budget.

Opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, decreased 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 2014.

He also said availability of loans from overseas sources at lower interest rates also contributed to the lower growth in private sector credit.

“The private sector credit growth decreased slightly in April, considering local currency loans only,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said.  “Actually credit growth to the private sector is maintaining a rising trend in the recent months, considering both local and foreign sources of the loans.”

The total outstanding loans with the private sector rose to BDT 5,577.76 billion in April 2015 from BDT 4,924.10 billion in the same month of the previous calendar year, the BB data showed.

The central bank earlier set the ceiling for private sector credit growth at 15.5 per cent for the January-June period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2014-15.

BBN/SSR/AD