Import spending up 19pc in Q1
Unb, Dhaka
Import spendings were up 19 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period last fiscal due mainly to increased oil price and higher imports of essentials heavily consumed in the holy month of Ramadan.Authorised banks opened import LCs worth US$ 4.23 billion during the July-September period of FY 2006-07, up from US$ 3.56 billion of the same period FY 2005-06, according to Bangladesh Bank figures released yesterday. Spending on import of petroleum and petroleum products increased substantially (29 percent) in the three-month period while import of sugar cost 235 percent more, pulses 19 percent, onion 37 percent, spices 126 percent and edible oil 44 percent. Import costs of industrial inputs like capital machinery rose 14 percent, other machinery 16 percent, raw cotton 34 percent and scrap vessels 38 percent. Other major imports included rice (US$ 27 million), wheat (US$ 69 million), fresh and dry fruits (US$ 14 million), milk food (US$ 21 million), edible oil (US$ 170 million), drugs and medicine (US$13 million), oil and other seeds (US$ 18 million), raw cotton and synthetic fibre (US$213 million), yarn (US$ 141 million) and textile fabrics and accessories for garments (US$631 million).
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