Data on letters of credit (L/Cs) indicate that imports into Bangladesh surged 15 per cent to about US$43 billion in the 10 months to end-April 2018.

Most imports into Bangladesh are manufactured in or supplied by Far Eastern countries.

Central bank data

According to data provided by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), import L/C settlements stood at US$42.99 billion during the period July 2017 to April 2018.

This compares with US$37.37 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Healthy order book

Fresh openings of import L/Cs, which indicate imported goods ordered, also increased by 52 per cent in that period according to provisional BB data.

Import orders increased to US$60.73 billion dollars in the period July 2017 to April 2018 compared with US$39.97 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Bangladesh's actual imports surged about 9 per cent to US$43.66 billion in the last July 2016-June 2017 fiscal year, when China, India, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia were the country's top five foreign suppliers.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.