The country's overall imports jumped by nearly 50% in the first nine months of this fiscal year (FY22) following higher imports of fuel oils and industrial raw materials.
The settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual import, in terms of value, rose by 49.64% or $20.09 billion to $60.57 billion during the July-March period of fiscal year 2021-22, from $40.48 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the Bangladesh Bank's latest statistics.
On the other hand, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, increased by more than 46% or $21.55 billion to $68.36 billion during the period under review from $46.81 billion in the same period of FY21.
Earlier on April 11 last, the central bank imposed minimum 25% cash LC margin on all imports excepting some essential items, aiming to ease import-payment pressure on the economy.
The local currency depreciated by Tk0.45 against the greenback in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market from March 21 to April 26, mainly due to higher demand for the US currency to settle import payment obligations.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk86.45 each in the forex market on April 26 against Tk86 on March 21. It also remained unchanged at Tk86.45 on May 5.
The country's import payment obligations have increased significantly in recent months as the overall economic activities are fully resuming after more than one-year of sluggishness, mainly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Import of petroleum products rose by 87.12% to $5.46 billion during the period under review from $2.92 billion in the same period of FY21.
Meanwhile, import of industrial raw materials jumped by nearly 54% to $22.13 billion during the July-March period of FY22 from $14.39 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
However, the import of capital machinery or industrial equipment used for productions jumped by over 42% to $3.81 billion during the period under review from $2.68 billion in the same of FY21, the central bank data showed.
The imports of capital machinery for readymade garment (RMG), leather, pharmaceuticals and electronics sectors have increased significantly during the period under review, according to market insiders.
Among the consumer items, the import of edible oils covering both crude and refined jumped by nearly 34% to $1.37 billion during the July-March period of FY22 from $1.02 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year while the import of wheat rose by 33.45% to $1.45 billion from $1.08 billion.
