Background report from July 2025.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) expanded the list of imported goods that can be transferred, unstuffed and delivered through privately operated inland container depots (ICDs) and off-docks approved by Chattogram Custom House, The Financial Express reported on 24 July 2025, citing UNB.
The NBR approved 27 new import categories in two phases: 12 on 8 April 2025 and 15 on 17 July 2025. Together with 38 categories allowed earlier, the total reached 65, handled through 19 operational ICDs across Chattogram. The approvals followed requests from trade bodies and were made in consultation with the port authority and the custom house.
The NBR said the expansion would let private depots use their full capacity, reduce congestion at the main port and speed up import clearance, and that it would “play a vital role in strengthening the country’s economic growth”. In May 2026 the investment authority BIDA proposed going much further, to 80 per cent of imports.
Source
- The Financial Express: “NBR moves to boost import-export” (24 July 2025)
File photo: the National Board of Revenue building in Dhaka. Photo: খালিদ জে. হোসেইন / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This article is a summary prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
