The country’s import orders or opening of letters of credit registered a negative growth of 9.75 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year 2015-16 compared with that of a positive growth of 12.81 per cent in the same period of the FY 2014-15. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the overall LC settlement, generally known as actual imports, also posted a lower growth of 1.32 per cent in the July-September period of the FY16 compared with that of 10.92 per cent growth during the same period of the FY15. BB officials told New Age on Thursday that the businesspeople were still reluctant to open and settle LCs as they thought that the country’s existing business environment was not favourable for business expansion. According to the BB data, the import orders decreased to $9.77 billion in the July-September period of the FY16 from $10.83 billion during the same period a financial year ago. The country’s import payments will drop in the coming months due to the slower growth in opening of LCs, the BB officials said. The import orders for industrial raw materials posted a negative growth of 1.43 per cent in the first quarter of the FY16 compared with that of 13.22 per cent growth during the same quarter of the FY15. The import orders for the industrial raw materials stood at $3.93 billion in the July-September period of the FY16 against $3.99 billion in the same period of the FY15. A BB official said industrial raw materials are the key ingredients for increasing industrial production, but the negative growth in imports of the products indicates that the country’s industrial sector will remain sluggish in the months to come. Opening of LCs for the petroleum products posted a negative growth of 48.61 per cent in the first quarter of the FY16 compared with that of a negative growth of 18.53 per cent in the first three months of the FY15. The import orders for the petroleum products stood at $579.50 million in the July-September period of the FY16 against $1.12 billion in the same period of the FY15. The BB official said the import orders for the petroleum products showed a negative growth due to lower prices of the products on the global market. The BB data, however, showed that the opening of LCs for capital machinery posted a positive growth of 6.95 per cent in the first quarter of the FY16 compared with that of 14.05 per cent growth in the same period a financial year ago. The import orders for the capital machinery stood at $875.35 million in the July-September period of the FY16 against $818.48 million in the same period of the FY15. The BB official said that there was no logical cause of the increase in the capital machinery import orders in the first three months of the FY16 as the business situation in the country remained dull. The huge import orders and payments for industrial machinery raised suspicion of money laundering, he said. The BB data showed that the country’s overall LC settlement stood at $9.92 billion in the July-September period of the FY16 against $9.79 billion in the same period of the FY15. The BB official said the country’s import orders and payments would not pick up in the coming months if the ongoing political uncertainty persists. The businesspeople have been waiting for the last few years to enjoy a stable political situation to expand their investment, but the government has so far failed to bring the stability, he said.
