Al Amin :
The country’s import expenditure has increased by around 50 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year, riding on strong domestic demand.
Economists, however, apprehended that a huge amount of money may launder in the name of paying import bills and urged the central bank to be more cautious.
They also said the import cost has upended due to the fuel price hike in the international markets and imports of capital machineries for setting up new factories have increased to cope with the pressure of new purchasing orders during the post Covid period.
The enhancement of the import expenditure is indicating a strong and steady economic recovery but investigation needs whether any incident of money laundering is being occurred in the name of spending import bills, they said.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The New Nation over phone on Sunday, “Import costs have increased significantly in the last few months due to increased import volume and price hike. But, it will be difficult to finance for the import expenditure.”
“It is too difficult to say about money laundering in the name of paying import bills specifically. But, the Bangladesh Bank should be more cautious regarding the over invoicing for import bills,” he said.
In the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year (2021-22), import cost has increased by about 54 percent. Of this, the export cost increased by 63 percent only in November.
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the country’s actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) jumped by 53.74 per cent to $30.32 billion during the July-November period of the current FY (2021-22) from $19.72 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
However, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by more than 53 per cent to $35.43 billion during the period under review, from $23.12 billion in the same period of FY 21.
Of the expenditures, petroleum and petroleum products cost increased by 101 per cent, consumer goods and industrial raw materials by 48 per cent and capital machineries by 30 per cent during this time. Besides, the cost of foreign medicines imports has also increased considerably during this time, the data said. Following this, demand for US dollars has increased in the country due to the upward trend of import costs. The price of every dollar has increased by one taka in the banking channel.
Businesses are now purchasing at Tk 85.60 per dollar, although it is being sold at Tk 90 in the open market.
The increased demand for the dollar has put pressure on the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves in the recent time.
