Central Bank to banks: Ensure uninterrupted imports of commodity, healthcare products 

The Bangladesh Bank on Monday directed authorized dealer banks to ensure uninterrupted banking services for the import of daily necessary commodities, health care products, and electronics, in light of the Covid-19 infection surge.

Banks that do foreign currency transactions on behalf of importers are known as authorized dealers.

The Foreign Exchange Policy Department (FEPD) of the central bank issued a circular on Monday to keep import activities uninterrupted amid the pandemic. 

The circular was issued following up on a gazette notification issued by the commerce ministry on 6 April in this regard.

Alongside keeping the import of these products uninterrupted, the unloading, transportation, courier and warehouse facilities for imported goods should be continued, maintaining hygiene rules, according to a BB circular issued on Monday.

Earlier, the central bank had asked scheduled banks to charge margins at a minimum rate against opening of import letters of credit (LC) for essential kitchen commodities ahead of the month of Ramadan.

If a trader or importer does not have cash in hand, he can take a bank loan to cover the entire import cost by paying a small amount of money.

The small amount of money that is taken by banks from importers is known as an LC margin. Banks take LC margins ranging from 2 to 5 percent.