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Bangladesh sees significant rise in import orders in September, an early indication of the country’s economic rebound after months of sluggishness, officials and money market experts said.

With the much-awaited increase in the number of LCs (letter of credits) opening, the pressure on the foreign exchange (forex) reserve seems to be rising in the coming months if the current momentum in the demand of the forex usage continues, they said.

According to the statistics available with the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, the opening of fresh LCs, generally known as import orders, increased by over 13 per cent to reach $6.22 billion in September from the August count’s of $5.38 billion.

The volume of import orders were $6.03 billion and $4.14 billion in July and June of this year respectively, the data showed.

Seeking anonymity, a BB official said the inflow of foreign currencies continues rising in recent months because of significant growth in both remittance and export earnings. This upturn bolsters the country’s foreign-exchange reserves.

Because of the fact, the central banker said, the banking regulator keeps allowing imports of all goods by the commercial banks. “It clearly indicates that the economic activities rebound slowly.”

The BB official said the inflow of foreign currencies through remittance and exports is not increasing to the pace that has been observed in the import growth in recent days, which is a concern.

He said the country has been getting monthly benefits of around $1.0 billion surplus in favour of foreix inflows after deducting the monthly overseas liabilities in the form of imports.

“But the margin of surplus narrowed down below $100 million in September. If the trend continuous in coming days, it will put the country’s forex reserve under pressure,” the central bank said.

In September, the country earned foreign currencies equivalent to $6.31 billion (exports-$3.63 billion and remittance-$2.69 billion) against the imports of $6.22 billion.