Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansoor said, keeping in view the month of Ramadan, the LC margin and credit limit will be temporarily lifted for the import of 4/5 products including gram, sugar, wheat, edible oil. He said, 'It will only be done for a temporary period of fasting.'
The governor gave this information to reporters after the meeting held on inflation and product prices in the conference room of the Ministry of Finance at the Secretariat on Thursday (November 7) afternoon.
Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansoor said, 'We have big importers – who import many products. Their single borrower limit has become a problem. It should not be avoided, which becomes a risk for the bank. For this reason, the capital of the bank should be increased, that is what we will try. That will be done by reforming the banking sector. However, temporarily in view of the next fast, we will raise the single loan limit of the bank for two-three months so that it does not cause any problem. This is a temporary decision only for everyday products.'
In response to a question, he said, 'Sugar, wheat, edible oil are usually imported by big companies. We don't want to lower the price level. Doing so will depress those who produce. We have to be patient. We have no problem with foreign exchange. Anyone can open an LC. The price level cannot be lowered, no country in the world does that. But we will try to bring down prices by reducing inflation. It takes two or three years to do it.'
Ahsan H. Mansoor said, 'Our main objective is not to let the bank's single loan limit become violet in the future. So that the banks do not increase on any one institution or person. Which is temporarily modified by me. This will be done in the case of import of gram, edible oil, sugar.
The governor said, 'There has been a lot of discussion about the supply chain. We have discussed the prices of all daily commodities. In this, the government has decided that the duty (duty) on most of the daily products has been reduced to zero. Some other decisions have been made. We already raised the margin of our LC. Now we will issue a circular next Sunday that no margin should be given on daily commodities. We left it up to the bank to say we raised. But I will encourage the banks not to charge LC margin on daily commodities till next fast. It is a significant decision, we will do it.'
When asked if the import credit limit will be lifted for any company, he said, 'Those who will import such products (essential products) are the only ones, not anyone else. We have 5/6 big companies who mainly supply and control the products in the market. They supply some commodities like sugar, edible oil and wheat. That is why we will try to keep 5/6 companies engaged all the time and monitor their prices with the market. Because anyone can import. No problem with that. The problem is that Natural cannot monopolize.'
