Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s private sector credit growth increased slightly further in March over the previous month as improving trend of the country’s political situation, officials said.
The growth in private sector credit flow rose to 13.63 per cent in March from 13.61 per cent in February. It was 13.33 per cent in January 2015, according to the central bank latest statistics.
“The central bank expects that the rising trend of private sector credit growth will continue in the coming months, if the political stability continues,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The total outstanding loans with the private sector rose to BDT 5526.68 billion in March 2015 from BDT 4863.78 billion in the same month of the previous calendar year, the BB data showed.
“The private sector credit growth increased slightly in March because of higher import of different products ahead of the Holy Ramadan,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank explained.
Opening of letters of credit (LC) against imports, generally known as import orders, jumped by more than 30 per cent to US$ 3.97 billion in March from $3.05 billion in February 2015.
On the other hand, the settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, surged by over 23.16 per cent to $3.34 billion during the period under review from $2.71 billion in the previous month.