During the fiscal year 2022-23, Bangladesh's import costs fell by about 16%.
In the preceding fiscal year (FY22), import expenses increased by 36%. It triggered a severe dollar crisis, which resonated throughout the economy and drove inflation to more than 9%.
According to Bangladesh Bank's most recent data analysis, the cost of imports in FY23 was $75.06 billion.
In FY22, the import cost was $89.16 billion. Earlier, the import cost in FY21 was $65.59 billion.
Market insiders said it happened because of a series of stringent measures and tax hikes amid the prevailing dollar crisis.
The financial adversities prompted the authorities to take different sorts of measures to control imports.
Sarwar Hossain, spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank said that there is no shortage of products in the country despite the decrease in imports. There is no scope to launder money abroad through this channel as all the Opening letters of credit (LCs) are now being verified thoroughly.
The supply of dollars to the banks, as well as inter-bank transactions, has risen which indicates an eased-up situation, he also added.
The Bangladesh Bank has almost halved the forex reserve as it had to settle some government and private sector import liabilities.
On Thursday, the central bank offloaded $67 million, bringing the reserve down to $29.53 billion.
But the actual reserve is even lower.
However, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) BPM 6 accounting system, reserves were $23.23 billion and the net or actual reserves are even less, meaning less than $20 billion.
The central bank could not meet the amount of reserves the IMF had asked for as a condition for granting a $4.7 billion loan to Bangladesh.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) said: “We still cannot open letters of credit (LCs) as per the clients’ demand. Foreign trade cannot be done as easily as before.”
Foreign banks do not grant loans or limits for more than six months, he said, adding they are trying to handle the crisis with export and remittance income.
He also noted a slight improvement in the dollar crisis but said the crisis still persists.
