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In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the country imported a total of 61 billion or 6,100 million US dollars worth of goods, which is 7 percent less than the previous 2023-24 fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, goods worth 6,514 million dollars were imported. However, imports increased in terms of quantity in the 2024-25 fiscal year. In total, 141 million tons of goods were imported, which is 4 percent more than the 137.6 million tons in the previous 2023-24 fiscal year.
This picture of imports was found by reviewing the information on goods released in the 2024-25 fiscal year at 50 customs stations under the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
According to the NBR database, many such goods, including raw materials for export-oriented industries, raw materials for domestic industries, and capital equipment, which are used in large quantities in the country, were imported in the 2024-25 fiscal year. However, in this case, local imports and sample imports have been excluded. That is, the actual import figures are presented.
The 2024-25 fiscal year began with a dollar crisis. The government changed on August 5 last year, 36 days into the fiscal year. The interim government took charge. The restrictions on dollars that were already in place in the country were still in place for imports. For this reason, the new government took various steps.
However, traders said that imports have not yet fully normalized. The margin required to open a letter of credit (LC) is still high for many product imports. For example, a margin of 30 to 50 percent has to be paid, depending on the customer, for the import of old ships. That is, to import an old ship worth 100 crore taka, a letter of credit has to be paid by paying 30 to 50 crore taka. But many entrepreneurs do not have such capacity. A few years ago, letters of credit could be opened with a margin of 10 to 15 percent.
Generally, when the import of goods increases in a country, economic activity increases. Especially when raw material imports increase, it means that production in the industrial sector in the country increases. When machinery imports increase, investment increases. Even if the import of commercial goods increases, it is assumed that economic activity in the country is increasing. And if imports decrease, there is a risk of a decrease in economic activities, including production. In the last fiscal year, the import of raw materials in many industrial sectors has decreased. The import of capital equipment has also decreased.
Which has increased
The increase in the quantity of goods imported has been due to the increase in the quantity of fuel coal for power plants. The import of the product has increased as coal-based power plants have come into production. This product has increased the most in quantity. According to the NBR, the import of this product has increased by 4.8 million tons to 2.5 million tons.
The second-highest import increase is rice. Due to the shortage, 1.389 million tons of rice were imported by the government and private sectors in the last fiscal year. However, less than 1,000 tons of rice were imported in the previous fiscal year 2023-24.
Cotton, the raw material for the textile industry, is on the list of import goods. The import of the product has increased by 8 percent to 1.758 million tons. Apart from this, imports of corn, crude soybean oil, raw materials for making rods, old iron scrap, pulses, crude sugar, LPG, etc. have also increased.
What has decreased
The list of imports includes clinker, the raw material for cement. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, clinker was imported at 25 million tons. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, it decreased to 19 million tons. Imports of soybean oil and soybean seeds, the raw material for making animal feed, have also decreased. Its imports have decreased by 7 percent. Imports have been 1.735 million tons. The second main source of iron raw materials, imports of old ships, has also decreased. Its imports have decreased by 15 percent. Imports have been 850,000 tons.
Imports of most types of machinery and parts, including capital equipment, have decreased. According to the Bangladesh Bank, imports of capital equipment have decreased by 19 percent in the first 11 months of the outgoing fiscal year. Apart from this, the list of items to be reduced in imports includes diesel, crude fuel oil, urea fertilizer, wheat, cargo ships, etc.
Concerns about capital equipment
When asked about the negative growth in capital equipment imports, Premier Cement and Seacom Group Managing Director (MD) Amirul Haque told Prothom Alo that the negative growth in capital equipment imports among product imports is a cause for concern. This is because the decrease in capital equipment imports means that investment initiatives are decreasing. For this, policy support should be provided to entrepreneurs, including reducing bank interest rates. Then the import of investment equipment will increase. If imports increase, employment will also increase. The economy will be strengthened.
Source: Online/GFMM
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