Dhaka, Mar 27 (IANS): Bangladesh's overall imports plunged over 22 per cent to $35.44 billion in the seven months (July-January) of the this fiscal, said an official on Wednesday.

Overall import orders, officially known as fresh opening of import letters of credit (LCs), during the period declined by 22.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to $35.44 billion, reported Xinhua on Wednesday quoting a Bangladesh Bank official.

However, the settlement of LCs or actual import payments increased by 9.96 per cent YoY to $32.6 billion during the period, the official said quoting data from the Bank.

Bangladesh's actual imports surged 25 per cent to $54.46 billion in the last fiscal when China, India, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia were top five import partners of the country.

Bangladesh follows July to June financial year, like the US, Australia and Egypt.

According to the official, the growth in imports, which hovers around 20-25 per cent, slumped to a single-digit since the end of 2018.

On having a slower import growth, he said, since the end of 2018 many investors adopted a "wait and watch" approach as the country underwent elections in December.