Bangladesh's imports surged 9.17 percent to $24.66 billion in the first half of 2017-18 fiscal year ending in June, a central bank official said Tuesday.

(File photo: en.xfafinance.com)

The official from the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual imports, stood at $24,660.53 million in July-December compared to $22,588.82 million in the same period a year earlier.

Import orders, officially known as fresh opening of import LCs, also increased by 74.76 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017), he said, quoting provisional BB data.

The overall import orders increased to $40,234.43 million in July-December against $23,022.85 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.

Bangladesh's actual imports surged about 10 percent to $43.49 billion in the past 2015-16 fiscal year (July 2015-June 2016) when China, India, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia were top import partners of the country.