Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Country’s private-sector credit growth increased further in October as the overall import payments moved up following higher import of capital machinery, officials said.

The growth in private-sector credit rose to 13.22 per cent in October from 12.88 per cent in September 2015, according to the central bank latest statistics. The credit growth was 12.69 per cent in August.
“Upward trend of the private-sector credit growth continued until October last as the country’s overall business activities are picking up gradually after returning political stability,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told BBN in Dhaka.
The central banker also expected that the upward trend of private-sector credit growth would continue in the coming months if the existing political stability continues.
On the other hand, a senior official of a commercial bank said the private sector credit growth increased slightly during the period under the review following upward trend of import payments.
“The import payments for petroleum products along with capital machinery have pushed up the demand for such credit,” the banker explained.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LC) increased by more than 12 per cent to US$3.25 billion October last from $2.89 billion a month ago.

The import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions rose by more than 106 per cent to $316.55 million in October last from $153.47 million in September 2015, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, import of fuel oils rose to $238.38 million during the period under review from $153.01 million in September 2015 mainly due to seasonal effect.
The total outstanding loans with the private sector rose to BDT 5946.77 billion in October 2015 from BDT 5252.33 billion in the same month of 2014. It was BDT 5896.86 billion in September last.
The central bank of Bangladesh has set the ceiling for private-sector credit growth at 14.30 per cent for the July-December period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16.

BBN/SSR/AD