The imports of capital machinery and rice increased by 28.54 per cent and 148.63 per cent respectively in the first half of the current financial year 2014-15 compared with the corresponding period of the FY14.
Bangladesh Bank officials and experts said there was no logical cause of increase in the capital machinery import in the first six months of the FY15 due to a dull business situation.
The huge import payments for industrial machinery raised a suspicion that money might have been laundered abroad, they said.
On the other hand, the government exported rice to Sri Lanka in December, 2014 for the first time despite an increased trend in import of the food grain.
According to the latest BB data, the imports of capital machinery and rice increased to $1.47 billion and $248.61 million respectively in July-December of the FY15 from $1.14 billion and $99.99 million in the same period of the FY14.
Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman had earlier told New Age that import of capital machinery was increased significantly in the last few months which rose suspicion that money laundering might have occurred behind such activities.
He explained that industrial term loan had not increased much in the period meaning that the industrial units had not expanded in line with the import of robust amount of the capital machinery.
The BB and National Board of Revenue should take initiative to start investigation to detect if there is over-invoicing through the import process, said the economist.
Former interim government finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam had earlier also told New Age that there was no justified reason for the rise in the machinery import in the first half of the FY15 due to a dull business situation amid political uncertainty.
He feared that some businesspeople were laundering money through over-invoicing in their invoice paper of the letters of credit.
The BB data showed that the country’s overall imports increased by 10.08 per cent in July-December of the FY15 compared with that in the same period a financial year ago.
The overall settlement of letters of credit, or generally known as actual imports, stood at $19.59 billion in July-December of the FY15 against that of $17.79 billion in the same period of the FY14.
The import of industrial raw materials increased by 6.34 per cent to $7.62 billion in July-December of the FY15 against $7.17 billion in the same period of the FY14.
The import of petroleum and petroleum products increased by 7.03-per cent to $2.04 billion in the first half of the FY15 against $1.90 billion during the corresponding period of the FY14.
LC settlements in the first half of the FY15 for refined edible oil and dry fruits were worth $437.85 million and $12.15 million respectively against $277.45 million and $8.07 million during the same period of the FY14.
LC opening, or generally known as import orders, in July-December of the FY15 also posted a growth of 13.16 per cent compared with that in the same period of the FY14.
LCs worth $21.28 billion were opened in July-December of the FY15 against LCs worth $17.79 billion opened in the same period of the FY14.
The BB data, however, showed that the country’s import orders had maintained a negative growth in December compared with that of previous November due to the recent spates of political violence.
The opening of LCs stood at $3.49 billion in December against $3.76 billion in November of 2014.
The settlement of LCs will decrease in the coming months due to the slower trend in opening of LCs if the ongoing political unrest continues, the BB official said.
Source: New Age