DHAKA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's imports surged over 37 percent to 4.50 billion U.S. dollars in the first month of the current 2017-18 fiscal year (July 2017-June 2018) as imports of rice skyrocketed amid flesh floods in parts of the country, officials said Wednesday.
"Increased importation of rice in the last month pushed up the over all import bills," said a central bank official who did not like to be named.
He said imports also quickened last month, outpacing exports as domestic demand or ready-made garment items and capital machinery propelled the overall economic growth.
Driven by ready-made garments, Bangladesh's exports in July surged over 26 percent to 3.21 billion U.S. dollars.
According to the official, rice imports climbed over 200 percent to a record 69.63 million U.S. dollars in the last last month against 21.17 million U.S. dollars in the previous month.
Quoting the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official said the settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual imports, stood at 4.50 billion U.S. dollars in the July compared to 3.64 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier.
Overall import orders also surged by 26 percent in the July, showed the BB data.
The overall import orders, officially known as fresh opening of import letters of credit (LCs), increased to 5.06 billion dollars in July against 3.89 billion dollars in the same period of the last 2016-17 fiscal year, it showed.
Officials say rice imports jumped as after the second round of flooding the Bangladeshi government in June eased import duty on rice to 10 percent from 28 percent in a bid to stabilize the domestic market.
Bangladesh last week again announced to cut import duty on rice further to 2 percent amid flash floods.
Bangladeshi Food Minister Qamrul Islam said the government decided to import 1.5 million tons of rice in the current 2017-2018 fiscal year in an effort to replenish reserves and rein in prices of the staple in the wake of the flooding.
Apart from this, he said Bangladesh will import 500,000 tons of wheat in the current fiscal year.
Flash floods struck Bangladesh in March, causing huge loss of boro (winter) rice. Apart from this, rice blast disease has also affected boro rice production elsewhere in the country.
Against such circumstances, prices are seen rising in the short term on a supply shortage.
The situation seems to have worsened in Bangladesh in the last couple of week as fresh floods have reportedly hit 20 districts, mostly in the country's north, leaving dozens of people dead.
As rice imports skyrocket, officials said, Bangladesh trade deficit may widen further in the coming months, if the existing trend of export earnings and import payments continues.
