Bangladesh Import Up By Over 24 Percent

May 4, 2008 12:26 p.m. EST

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Bangladesh's overall import grew by 24.37 percent during the first nine months of the fiscal 2007-08 over the same period of the previous fiscal, officials said on Sunday.

Letters of credit (LCs) against imports worth $14.644 billion were settled during July-March period of fiscal 2007-08 against $11.775 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics, released on the day.

"The overall import increased in the period due mainly to higher import of essential items including food grains, industrial raw materials and petroleum products to meet the domestic demand," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, told AHN Media Corp. in the capital, Dhaka.

During the period, the import of food grains and other consumer goods increased by 261.30 percent and 40.32 percent respectively over the same period of the previous fiscal.

The import of food grains stood at $1.200 billion during the period as against $332.21 million of the corresponding period of last fiscal, the BB's data showed.

"The food grains import is likely to fall in the upcoming months due to seasonal impact," another BB official told AHN, adding that the import of wheat has already dropped.

However, import of industrial raw materials witnessed a 27.15 percent growth to $5.622 billion during the period under review against $4.422 billion of the same period of the previous fiscal while the import of industrial spares and accessories reached $1.035 billion against $870.96 million during the period.

Import of intermediate goods rose to $1.080 billion in the same period from $994.22 million of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

On the other hand, opening of fresh LCs for capital machinery marked gradual rise but settlement of LCs for the same is still negative, according to the officials.

The central bank officials are expecting that the settlement of LCs for capital machinery will turn into positive shortly as opening of fresh LCs have increased in recent months.

Import LCs worth $1.279 billion were opened for capital machinery during July-March period of this fiscal as against $1.136 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

However, LCs for capital machinery worth $1.051 billion were settled during the period compared to $1.151 billion of the corresponding period of last fiscal.