The import of capital machinery and industrial raw materials plunged in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, hitting the country’s expected GDP growth
for the FY 2012-13, said officials of the Bangladesh Bank.
The settlement of letters of credit or actual import payment for capital machinery in July-April posted a negative growth of 15.54 per cent and industrial raw materials a negative 3.49 per cent compared with that of 21.27 per cent and 11.90 per cent growth in July-April in the FY 2011-2012.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the negative import growth in capital machinery and industrial raw materials had already hit the expected growth of the gross domestic products for the FY 2012-13.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has recently said that the country’s provisional GDP growth was 6.03 per cent for the current fiscal year although the government earlier set a GDP growth of 7.2 per cent for the FY 2012-13.
The decreased import growth in capital machinery and industrial raw materials is one of the key reasons for the decline in the GDP growth for the current fiscal year, the BB official said.
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the settlement of LCs for the capital machinery totalled $1,726.14 million in July-April against $2,043.83 million in the first 10 months of the FY 2011-12.
LC settlements in the first 10 months of the current financial year for the industrial raw materials were $10.94 billion against $11.33 billion in the corresponding period of the FY 2011-12.
The official said that the country’s businesspeople had recently adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to expansion of their business due to the recent spates of political violence.
Besides, the high rate of interest on banks’ landing and shortage of gas and electricity were other reasons for the lower import growth in capital machinery and industrial raw materials, he said.
The BB data, however, showed that the opening of LCs for the two items increased in the period.
Another BB official said that the higher value of the taka against the US dollar encouraged the businessmen in opening the LCs in the period.
An increased trend in remittance in the first 11 months and lower import growth pushed down the value of the greenback against the taka, he said.
The dollar was quoted at Tk 77.75-Tk 77.76 in the inter-bank forex market on June 12 against Tk 79.75-Tk 79.80 on January 1, 2013.
The greenback depreciated by 5.12 per cent against the taka in the last one year as the indicative selling rate of dollar stood at Tk 77.75 on June 12, 2013, down from Tk 81.95 on June 12, 2012.
The dollar earlier appreciated by 19.29 per cent against the local currency as the indicative selling rate of dollar stood at Tk 84.45 on January 29, 2012 up from Tk 70.79 on January 2, 2011 due to a higher import payment.
The lower rate of the dollar against the taka has now created an import demand which is playing a positive role in stabilising the money market, the official said.
LC opening for capital machinery in July-April posted a growth of 31.57 per cent and industrial raw materials a 1.04 per cent compared with that of 25.83 per cent and 8.11 per cent negative growth in July-April in the FY 2011-2012.
-With New Age input
