Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Three state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) have resumed opening of the letters of credit (LCs) for the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to import petroleum products following ‘intervention’ by the authorities concerned.
“We’ve opened the LCs for fuel oils after getting an assurance from both the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Bangladesh Bank (BB) about availability of the fund that the SCBs will require to pay in cash to buy US dollars at the time of settlement of the related LCs,” a senior executive of a leading SCB said on Sunday.
The SCBs — Sonali, Janata and Agrani — opened LCs worth US$336 million for import of fuel oils until January 22, 2012 to meet the growing demand for the petroleum products, according to the central bank statistics.
Out of this total amount, in value terms of LC openings, $146 million will be provided by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the remaining amount will be paid by the SCBs from their own resources, the BB data showed.
The SCBs earlier declined to open LCs for the BPC to import petroleum products, mainly due to their liquidity constraints.
“The central bank will extend foreign currency support to the SCBs for settlement of their import payment bills for petroleum products to protect our national interest,” a BB senior said without elaborating.
BBN/SSR/AD-23Jan12-11:04 am (BST)
