Bangladesh is witnessing a decline in the import of capital machinery, intermediate goods, and raw materials amidst analysts and economists expressing concerns over the same even as reports suggest scarcity of dollars and constrained foreign trade have contributed to this slump, which could potentially lead to a contraction in production and disruption in the consumer market.

This is as per reports, which citing the data from the Customs Department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Bangladesh Bank (BB), underlined there has been a significant decline in imports of capital goods, raw materials for the readymade garments (RMG) sector, and intermediate goods during the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Import of capital goods, including capital machinery, has experienced the largest decline of 18.8 percent, amounting to US $ 1.13 billion in the July-April period, compared to what was US $ 1.39 billion in the same period last fiscal year. Similarly, the import of raw materials for the apparel industry has fallen by 21.3 percent, reaching US $ 14.65 billion in the current period, compared to that of US $ 18.62 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the import of intermediate goods has also declined by 17.7 percent, totalling US $ 37.48 billion, as per the customs data.