Bangladesh’s import cost rose in the last fiscal year due to foodgrain procurement and the mega infrastructure projects, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told the Parliament on Monday.
Responding to a query by ruling MP Shamsul Haque Chowdhury, he attributed the huge amounts of food grain import after last year’s flood as well as projects like the Padma Bridge, Rooppur nuclear power plant and the power plants in Matarbari and Payra for the hike in import.
“Besides that, commodity imports rose as the consumers’ purchasing power has increased,” he said.
During Monday’s question-and-answer session, Commerce Minister Ahmed said that they have initiated measures to hike the export herbal products.
“An international standard laboratory for accreditation and certification will be set up. In 2017-18 fiscal, exports of herbal products stood at $86.63 million,” he said in response to a query by MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury.
On the RMG sector, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of exports, Ahmed said that a preliminary assessment was conducted jointly by the government, Accord and Alliance on 3,780 factories.
“It found 163 factories as risky. Of them, 39 have been completely closed while 47 partially. The rest of the factories are being renovated,” he said in response to a question by Noakhali-3 MP Mamunur Rashid Kiron.