Bangladesh pays dearly on overall imports as higher fuel-oil prices in troubled times lifted its import orders in value by nearly 14 per cent in July, current fiscal year's maiden month, officials said.
The opening of fresh letters of credit (LCs), commonly referred to as import orders, for petroleum products surged 68.67 per cent year on year to US$1.24 billion in July.
The LC value was only $0.74 billion in the same month in FY26, according to the latest statistics from the central bank.
The spurt in petroleum-product-import orders in terms of value came amid elevated and volatile international oil prices, which increased the country's overall import costs and foreign-exchange requirements, the officials explained on Sunday.
The international oil market has been unusually volatile in recent months mainly due to the Middle East conflicts, which disrupted fuel transport from the petroleum hubs, they added.
Bangladesh's overall import orders grew by nearly 14 per cent to $6.90 billion during the period under review from $6.07 billion in the same period of FY'26.
"Volatility and high prices of petroleum products on the global market drove up Bangladesh's overall import orders in value terms in July, and the trend may continue during the first quarter (Q1) of the fiscal year 2026-27," Md. Ezazul Islam, director-general of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), told The Financial Express (FE) in reply to a query.
Dr Islam, a former executive director of the Bangladesh Bank, also said actual imports, officially measured by the settlement of letters of credit or LCs, would increase gradually, driven by the government's expansionary fiscal policy aimed at boosting investment, particularly in productive sectors.
He also said BB's latest growth-supportive monetary policy, including its stimulus packages, coupled with improved political stability and stronger private-sector investment expectations, is likely to accelerate import growth in the coming months.
However, LC settlements for petroleum products increased nearly 9.0 per cent to $0.90 billion during the period under review from $0.83 billion a year ago.
In FY'26, fuel-oil imports increased by 6.42 per cent to $10.68 billion from $10.03 billion in FY'25.
On the other hand, the country's overall settlement of LCs rose by nearly 3.0 per cent to $6.28 billion in July 2026 from $6.10 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, the BB data showed.
Conversely, the imports of capital machinery or industrial equipment, used for production, dropped 8.60 per cent to $0.15 billion during the period under review, from $0.16 billion in the same period of FY'26.
However, industrial raw-material imports fell 6.92 per cent to $1.94 billion in July 2026 from $2.08 billion a year before.
Besides, the import of intermediate goods increased more than 17 per cent to $0.43 billion during the period from $0.37 billion in the same period of FY'26.
