Import increase in Bangladesh

The country's overall import increased by more than 20 per cent during the second quarter of the current financial year, according to the Bangladesh Bank data. Import orders for capital machinery rose by 24 per cent during the October- December period. The trends of increasing imports, especially capital machinery, indicate increase in industrial investment, said the central bank officials The increase in the overall imports has also been attributed to the growing demand of the essential items such as fertiliser and petroleum products. Letters of credit worth $411 million for importing machinery were opened during the said period of 2009-10 financial year as against $330 million during the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Most of the orders were placed from sectors such as textile, readymade garment, pharmaceuticals and packaging industry. Central bank governor Atiur Rahman said the rise in imports of capital machinery indicate that the overall industrial sector was gaining momentum and it showed increasing confidence among investors. 'We hope the upward trend of import order for capital machinery will continue as major economies are recovering from the global recession,' he added. The central bank statistics showed that the settlement of letters of credit for overall imports increased by more than 22 per cent to $2.11 billion in December alone from $1.717 billion in November. Meanwhile, the value of overall import orders showed an increase in January due to rising trend of prices of commodities including food and edible oil in the global market, according to the Bangladesh Bank. Imports of essentials such as wheat, sugar and onion also increased in terms of both quantity and value in December compared to the previous month. The import of wheat increased by 100,000 tonnes to 416,000 tonnes in terms of quantity, sugar by 85,000 tonnes to 225,000 tonnes and pulses by 11,000 tonnes to 64,000 tonnes during the period.