Money laundering suspicion persists amid rising machinery import
The country’s overall imports increased by 11.01 per cent in October of this year against a 8.60-per cent growth in the corresponding month of last year due mainly to higher import of capital machinery, rice and chemical fertilisers.BB officials and experts suspected that money laundering might have been happened behind the import of capital machinery as there was no logical ground for higher import of the products amid dull business scenario in the country.
According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank released last week, the settlement of letters of credit, generally known as actual import, stood at $3.15 billion in October this year. The figure was $2.84 billion in October 2013 and $2.61 billion in October 2012.
The settlement of LCs for capital machinery stood at $154.94 million in October against $119.82 million during the same month of the FY14.
Former interim government adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam earlier told New Age that there was no sufficient reason for the rise in the machinery import in the recent months of the FY15 due to a dull business situation amid political uncertainty.
But, the huge import payments for capital machinery raised a suspicion that money might have been laundered abroad, he said.
He feared that some businesspeople were laundering money through over-invoicing in their invoice paper of the letters of credit.
LC settlements in October for rice and chemical fertilisers were worth $39.23 million and $187.34 million respectively against $19.54 million and $171.84 million in October 2014.
A BB official said the import might decrease in the coming months as the country’s business sector was still facing political uncertainty.
The businesspeople are yet to gear up their business activities due to the existing political uncertainty, he said.
The BB data showed that back-to-back imports for the readymade garment sector declined slightly in October as the export of RMG products decreased in the recent months.
LC settlements for the import of back-to-back products of the RMG sector — fabrics and accessories — decreased to $479.37 million in October from $492.18 million during the same month a year ago.
The BB official said retailers from the United States and the European countries had significantly cut their import orders of RMG products from Bangladesh after the collapse of Rana Plaza, which housed apparel factories.
For this reason, the import of back-to-back products of the RMG sector decreased in October, he said.
The BB data showed that the opening of letters of credit, also known as actual import orders, posted a 9.14-per cent growth in October this year compared with that of 8.01 per cent growth in the same month of 2013.
In October this year, LCs worth $3.04 billion were opened by the banks. LCs worth $2.79 billion were opened in October 2013 and $2.58 billion in October 2012.
The higher growth in opening of the LCs means that the imports may increase more in the coming months if the country does not face again any political setback, the BB official said.
-With New Age input
