The government has asked the central bank to double the existing deferred payment period for commercial import to help ensure supply chain of commodities during this COVID-19 pandemic situation.
To this effect, officials said, commerce ministry has written to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to take the next course of action to help facilitate importers.
Such importers are currently allowed up to 180 days (six months) to settle deferred payments, according to the letter of the ministry.
It has suggested extending the deferred payment facility up to 360 days (12 months) from 180 days by amending a circular that the BB issued on March 23.
The ministry's recommendation of payment laxity came following requests from commercial importers concerned to help cope with the coronavirus crisis.
"To ensure supply chain of urgent consumables countrywide, the ministry has recommended enhancing usance period up to 360 days from 180 days," said a senior ministry official.
This move will help import products like baby food in the wake of the pandemic, he told the FE on Tuesday.
"We've given the relaxation proposal for the benefit of importers so that the supply chain of such items remains stable across the country."
If allowed, the official said, it will also help reduce pressure from the importers concerned during and after the COVID-19 epidemic.
Deferred payment arrangements are often used in retail settings where a person buys and gets an item with a promise to making payments at a future date.
When asked, commerce ministry deputy secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain Hawlader said they have written to the BB governor about deferred payments.
He, however, declined to discuss this at length.
A central banker said, "We've received a letter on the deferred payment issue that sent by commerce ministry very recently. We're scrutinising it."
The March 23 circular allowed authorised dealers to extend usance period up to 360 days instead of 180 days to minimise coronavirus-related disruptions to input imports of industrial raw materials.
On the other hand, the regulator has relaxed foreign-exchange regulations, permitting banks to extend usance period of life-saving drug imports up to six months instead of three months.
Sources said Bangladesh has already seen negative growth in export and import sectors. The ministry has already taken multiple measures to provide aid in the sectors to combat the COVID-19 outbreak across the country, they added.
It apprehended in a position paper that the domestic demand may fall in the next three months that will affect the import sector indirectly.
"Undoubtedly, the pandemic has put the country at high health and economic risk. There has been uncertainty in import and export sectors for global supply-chain disruptions," added the paper.
According the paper, the overall import sector saw 2.2-per cent negative growth from July to January in FY 2020 compared to the same period in FY 2019.
Total imports fell 14 per cent in January 2020 alone.
