Bangladesh to control import of Luxury items

Bangladesh Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that Bangladesh will control the import of luxury goods until the global inflation comes down to a tolerable level. He said imports are never unregulated and the central bank of the country always controls the import of some unnecessary items. However there would be no restriction on the import of consumer goods which are necessary for people and essential as part of project implementation, reports the official news agency BSS.
Finance Minister Kamal said that the Bank of Bangladesh has taken the initiative to control the import of luxury items and increased the margin for issuing Letter of Credit (LC). He said these measures will remain in place till the inflation level comes down. Earlier, on 10 April the central bank of Bangladesh had directed the scheduled banks to charge margins at a minimum rate of 25% against the opening of import letters of credit (LC) to manage the overall loan and currency situation. However, essential items like baby food, food items and fuel, life-saving medicines, local and export-oriented industries and agricultural related products were exempted from this requirement.