Both settlement and opening of Letter of Credit (LC) declined in August as in the previous month following the government’s import cost containment policy, official sources said. LCs worth $531 crore were opened in August, which were $555 crore in July, according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank.
Besides, LCs worth $593 crore were settled in August, down from $658 crore in July. In January, LCs worth $865 crore were opened, which came down to $723 crore in February. LCs worth $987 crore were opened in March, the largest amount in the history of Bangladesh.
Following the start of Russia-Ukraine war, the government took a series of measures, including setting LC margin for import of luxury items at 100 percent, to contain imports in March.
LC opening started declining afterwards and LCs worth $861 crore were opened in April, $744 crore in May and $796 crore in June. BB sources said LCs worth $685 crore were settled in January, $655 crore in February, $767 crore in March, $693 crore in April and $725 crore in May.
On the other hand, Bangladesh’s exporters earned $ 460.70 crore by exporting various products in August. This figure was 36.18 percent higher than exports a year ago. This was also 7.14 percent higher than the target.
Besides, in the first two months (July-August) of the fiscal year 2022-23, $859.18 crore (8.59 billion) worth of foreign currency came into the country from export of goods, which is 25.31 percent higher than the same period of the fiscal year 2021-22.
An official of Bangladesh Bank told The News Times that both settlement and opening of LC are declining due to the central bank’s various initiatives to control imports. These initiatives were taken to save the foreign currency and retain reserves.
