The central bank has taken a helpful initiative to build safe stock of these 11 essential commodities – rice, wheat, onion, dal, edible oil, sugar, eggs, chickpeas, peas, spices and dates – ahead of the upcoming holy month of Ramadan. For this purpose, an opportunity has been given to pay the delayed bill within 90 days after the completion of the transaction under the Suppliers-Buyers Credit.
Yesterday a notification was issued by Bangladesh Bank with instructions in this regard. Bangladesh Bank has sent a letter to the chief executives of all commercial banks in the country to comply with this directive.
According to the notification, in order to facilitate import transactions, the bill of goods imported on March 31 this year can be paid within the next 90 days. In case of goods which have been imported earlier, the condition of payment of bill within next 90 days will also be applicable.
Incidentally, on November 6, Bangladesh Bank issued a notification relaxing the order to keep 100 percent margin or security value in the case of importing goods. Now that margin will be determined based on customer-bank relationship.
In the notification issued, it is also said that considering the increase in demand for consumer goods on the occasion of Ramadan, this initiative is to keep the prices at a bearable level by simplifying the import of those products. As a result, instructions have been given to keep the rate of cash margin to be maintained at a minimum level on the basis of banker-customer relationship in the case of establishment of import credit for the said products. Bangladesh Bank says that this priority directive for setting up import credit to ensure the supply of these products in the domestic market will remain in force until March 31, 2025.
According to industry insiders, importers will need less cash due to relaxation of LC margin. It will also reduce the import cost. As a result, due to this advantage, the prices of these products in the market should decrease to some extent. The dollar-crisis has recently hampered the opening of LCs for these products. As a result traders are facing problems in opening LCs of various fruits including pulses, edible oil, chickpeas, dates. This initiative has been taken to ensure adequate supply of essential products during the upcoming fast.
