DHAKA, Nov 26, 2020 (BSS) – Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi today called upon all to strengthen coordinated efforts to tackle the second wave of lethal virus (COVID-19) and revive the crippled economy.
“Ministries and organisations have strengthened their coordinated efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The second wave of the COVID-19 has come. We will have to provide more coordinated efforts to tackle the impact,” he said.
The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the first session of a dialogue series on “Stimulus Package for Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery from COVID-19 Fallout in Bangladesh” at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city.
The theme of the first session was “Job Retention, Restoration of Demand and Maintain the Supply Chain.”
Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus attended the dialogue as the special guest while Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder delivered the keynote presentation on the occasion.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Senior Fellow Dr Naznin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Dr Rubana Huq, Executive Director of the SANEM Dr Selim Raihan, World Bank’s Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Miyang Tembon and Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki were the discussants at the dialogue.
Tipu said Bangladesh’s stimulus packages have been provided in the form of low-cost loans to affected micro, small, medium and large industries and services, food security, social protection, special allowances and incentives as the pandemic-induced shutdown or struggling industries.
He emphasised on proper implementation of packages as directed by the Prime Minister and simplification on money disbursement procedure, so that targeted groups get the benefits of the packages.
“If we continue our business activities, our people can get money and the wheel of the overall economy of our country will remain in motion,” he added.
Ahmad Kaikaus said the country’s economy is bouncing back quickly from the coronavirus (COVID-19) related impact, backed by different time-befitting policy supports of the government under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19 in March, the government rolled out a raft measures to help boost the economy and with the government’s policy support, Bangladesh is returning quickly to previous position, he added.
He said this is the Birth Centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh is going to observe the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.
“So, I think we can show positive attitude towards our nation, towards our people and towards our entrepreneurs through mitigating the impact of pandemic,” he added.
Abdur Rouf Talukder said Bangladesh initiated proactive and prompt policy measures since the beginning of the pandemic under the direct intervention, prudent guidance and close supervision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“The design and implementation of the responses was possible to materialize due to the some factors, including sound macro-fiscal position maintained over the last 12 years; low level of debt to GDP ratio, leading higher capacity to borrow from domestic and international sources; resilience of export sector and higher remittances inflow helping to maintain strong external position and reserve and timely and generous response from the development partners was instrumental in rolling out stimulus packages,” he added.
He said positive contribution of the government responses is evident from the signs of economic recovery.
Naznin Ahmed underscored the need for increasing the allocation of Palli Sanchay Bank, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and such kind of organisations so that marginalized people can take benefits from the government’s stimulus packages.
“Government allocated Taka 50 billion to Palli Sanchay Bank under the Stimulus Package. So far, Taka 25 billion has been disbursed. This money went to around 44,000 people. They are marginalized. The loan size is around Taka 48,000 per beneficiary. They are utilizing the money for different income generating activities, including cattle raring, fishing, poultry and tree plantation. This is not a large amount of money, but this is helping the marginalized people,” she added.
Rubana Huq said if the RMG sector can survive up to June, 2021, then the sector can go forward and it will have no need any reward.
She sought a little bit help up to June, 2021 for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and further taking forward the country’s key export products.
Selim Raihan emphasised on three issues -–financing, management and monitoring– to measure the effectiveness of stimulus packages.
“We need to probably revisit the stimulus packages. In this context, I would suggest three issues, first, we must have an independent evaluation of the stimulus packages, and secondly, we must address the challenges of SMEs in availing the stimulus package. Finally, after evaluating the stimulus packages, we may consider another round of stimulus packages to check the second wave impact of COVID-19,” he added.