Even as the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc across geographical locations, a recent estimate by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has revealed some worrying repercussion of the same for Bangladesh.

And this comes as no good news for the country’s leather and readymade garment sector.

As per the UNCTAD, the trade impact of the Coronavirus for Bangladesh is estimated to be about US $ 16 million if China’s exports of intermediate inputs drop off 2 per cent, and the worst sufferers would be the leather and apparel manufacturing sectors.

The UNCTAD’s technical note (global trade impact of the Coronavirus epidemic) underlined that the impact of the same on the textiles and apparels could be to the tune of US $ 1 million while for the leather and leather goods industry, it would be a whopping US $ 15 million.

The analysis, based on United Nations Statistics Division trade data covering around 200 countries and 13 manufacturing sectors, further noted that Bangladesh is one amongst the 35 nations to be impacted by the same as brakes are applied on the production in China owing to the outbreak of the deadly virus.