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Stimulus loan for CMSMEs: Disbursement may miss Dec deadline
Bangladesh’s cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs), a priority sector of the government, cannot avail of the stimulus loan as fast as they had expected due to its slow disbursement process.
Bangladesh Bank has set a loan disbursement target of Tk 20,000 crore in its second round to cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) by December next.
Read:CMSMEs divisional Mentorship Program launched at DU
But the disbursement target may be missed as only 2.82 percent loan was disbursed during the July-August period among 2390 firms of CMSMEs, according to the central bank statistics.
“The disbursement of the remaining volume by December may not be possible as many of the CMSMEs finally cannot fulfil the conditions of banks to receive the loan,” said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank.
He said extra efforts need to be taken on this front as the central bank’s CGS has no impact on loan disbursement yet as its conditions are too tough for small entrepreneurs to meet.
“More than 90 percent of CSMEs in Bangladesh are informal which are not registered with any government authority and don’t maintain any financial records,” Mahbub said.
As a result, he said, these CSMEs are highly unlikely to benefit from the newly implemented credit guarantee scheme (CGS) since commercial banks do not usually lend to informal businesses because of higher perceived risks.
Bangladesh can significantly expand renewable energy: COP26 Envoy
COP26 Regional Ambassador Ken O'Flaherty has said it is possible for countries like Bangladesh to significantly expand its renewable energy sector as it has been the cheapest option for new energy in Asian countries.
“It’s clear that over the next decade the cost of renewable energy will continue to fall. So countries which don’t invest in renewable energy risk losing competitive advantage,” he told UNB in an interview at the British High Commissioner’s residence here.
Across the region, the envoy said, he is seeing governments recognize the opportunities offered by renewable energy and said countries like Bangladesh can also look into potential cooperation at regional level on hydropower.
Also read: Bangladesh knows how to address climate change challenges: EU envoy
He thinks the countries which want to grow faster over the next decade will need to be harnessing renewable energy.
Ambassador Ken said there is lot of interest in investing renewable energy and hydropower but what the investors need is a clear signal from the government.
Govt aims to boost national revenue for rapid economic growth: Official document
The government is aiming to take up the economy’s revenue-GDP ratio to 11.5 per cent by 2023-24 fiscal through modernisation of revenue administration, broadening the tax base, higher tax compliance, reform of laws and simplification of process.
"This is expected to significantly impact revenue mobilisation, and hence, over the medium term, total revenue-GDP ratio is projected to increase at 11.5 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal," an official document stated.
READ: Poland praises Bangladesh’s economic growth
The projection for 2022-23 fiscal is 11.3 per cent while target for the current 2021-22 fiscal is 11.3 per cent.
It said that in the recent years the government has taken several significant stringent measures to reinforce domestic resource mobilisation. Revenue income elasticity with respect to GDP is low in Bangladesh.
"The current revenue-GDP ratio is very low compared to the neighbouring and other developing countries," said the document.
It mentioned that to recover the economy from shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has maintained an expansionary fiscal policy stance. In the context of COVID-19, revenue earning has declined significantly.
On the other hand, higher spending due to government's adoption of countercyclical measurers as responses to the economic impact of COVID-19 is creating budgetary pressure.
Several reform initiatives have been taken by the government to reinforce domestic resource mobilisation as well as to improve revenue-GDP ratio.
In this connection, the document stated that automation of the VAT collection and bonded warehousing system are ongoing. Enactment of the new Customs Act, 2020 is at the final stage.
In 2019-20 fiscal the revenue-GDP ratio was 9.5 per cent while target for 2020-21 fiscal was 11.9 per cent, but it was revised to 11.4 per cent.
The document said that the fundamental objective of public expenditure policy is to enhance and improve the emergency healthcare facilities, stimulate both private and public investment, creating employment opportunities, expansion of social safety net programmes and ensure efficient redistribution of wealth through pro-poor, inclusive development.
In addition, it said the government is pursuing to keep budget deficit within the sustainable range so that the debt to GDP ratio does not increase at a higher pace.
"Due to outbreak of the pandemic, implementation of development projects has been slower, but the expenditure on social protection programmes and stimulus packages to address the COVID-19 crisis is rising substantially," the document added.
The size of public expenditure is historically low relative to GDP. It was only 14.9 per cent to GDP in 2019-20 fiscal, while it stands at 17.5 per cent in the revised budget of 2020-21 fiscal year from 17.9 per cent.
The document mentioned that public spending is targeted to be elevated to around 17 per cent of GDP over the medium term.
For the current 2021-22 fiscal it has been set at 17.5 per cent while for 2022-23 and 2023-34 fiscals it has been projected at 17 per cent.
READ: WB lauds Bangladesh's economic growth despite downturn
As per the document, the government has already initiated public financial management (PFM) reforms. The PFM Reform Strategy 2016-21 along with other reform programmes have been implementing with a view to improving overall public service delivery, financial control of budget allocation, real time monitoring of budget execution, and integration of recurrent and capital spending.
The PFM Action Plan 2018-23 has been prepared and implementation is going on.
Under the PFM reforms, the official document said, E-chalan system and a new budget and accounting system (Ibas++) have been introduced, new accounting BACS has been completed, and automation of national savings certificate sales has been introduced.
It also mentioned that the government to person (G2P) payment is being rolled out for social safety net programmes.
READ: ADB lowers its economic growth forecast for developing Asia
The document hoped that simplification of fund release process, disbursement of government employees' salaries and pensions through electronic fund transfer (EFT) will increase the efficiency of expenditures.
10 thousand people in Brahmanbaria dependent on a tottering bridge
Each day more than 10,000 people in Brahmanbaria Sadar's North and South Poirtola use a tottering wooden bridge to move around.
For over three years the Poirtola villagers have been using the wooden bridge as a shortcut way to the bypass road.
The narrow wooden bridge is held on tree trunk pillars. As a result no vehicle can pass over this rickety bridge, which is adjacent to the South Poirotola cemetery on the Town Khal (canal).
People of the area for a long time have been demanding for a paved cement-and concrete bridge.
This wooden bridge has been connected to the city bypass road from Hazrat Sheikh Jalal shrine gate.
According to the locals, they face heavy traffic if they use the Gokorno road to get to the bypass. So, the villagers are more comfortable using the wooden path than the street.
Before the bridge was built the villages used boats to reach the bypass to avoid extra traffic and save time.
About three years ago, Al Noor Peyara Jame Mosque authorities built the 100 feet long and 6 feet wide wooden bridge for the devotees to get to the mosque.
Now, people from all walks of life including market, school and office goers use this wooden bridge.
North Poirtola resident Abu Taher Miah said that the people of the area have to face traffic jams and accidents on Gokorno road. Moreover, the condition of the road is also bad. People are able to move safely through the wooden bridge inside and out of the village.
Read: Mymensingh to get a modern bridge over Brahmaputra
Poirtola ward 10 Awami League general secretary Shahnawaz Miah said, "If a paved bridge is constructed over the canal, we will benefit a lot."
Former Upazila Chairman Sayed Emranur Reza said, if the road is paved and there is a permanent bridge over the canal, there will be no misery.
Read The terrible road preventing an area's residents from getting married
However, local lawmaker R. A. M. Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury has promised to build a permanent paved bridge over the canal.
Climate change making dengue an annual affair in Bangladesh: Experts
Dengue, a mosquito-borne tropical infectious disease, is gradually becoming an annual affair in Bangladesh as an endemic due to the adverse impacts of climate change, say experts.
They also said Bangladesh’s climate conditions are becoming more suitable for dengue and other vector-borne diseases like malaria and chikungunya due to excessive and erratic rainfall, waterlogging, flooding, and rise in temperature and abnormal shifts in the country’s traditional seasons.
The analysts think the government should focus on rigorous scientific research to understand the Aedes mosquitoes' reproductive and behavioural changes due to climate change and thus find out effective measures to contain it.
Also read: 'National laws need to be revised to tackle dengue menace'
Bangladesh saw the first dengue fever cases in 2000 and the country reported a few hundred cases each year until 2017.
The country experienced a massive dengue outbreak in 2019, claiming the lives of 164 people and infecting 101,354 others.
After the hiatus of a year, dengue cases surged again in the country this year.According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 82 people died of dengue this year as of Wednesday while 20,729 were admitted to different hospitals with the disease since January.
Read 'Turn pledges into action': Hasina's clarion call to combat climate change
Govt starts feeling pinch of price surge of petroleum on the global market
The global price surge in the petroleum fuels is forcing the government to count losses as it has to import both liquid petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG) at rates much higher than that was last year.
According to official sources, against the backlash of price surge of petroleum fuels the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is now importing different petroleum products at more than double the rates than the last year’s.
As a result, the BPC has been incurring a loss of over Tk 20 crore per day, said a top official of the prime government petroleum marketing entity.
Read: Proposals for LNG, petroleum, wheat import get clearance
To offset the loss, the petroleum marketing body is now going to propose the government to allow it to set a price on a monthly basis, said a top official at the BPC.
“Soon, we’ll send a proposal to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to allow the BPC to set the petroleum prices on a monthly basis”, Syed Mehdi Hasan, director (operations & planning), told UNB.
Currently, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division sets the fuel price on an occasional basis considering the global market price.
According to BPC sources, the refined petroleum fuel, specially, diesel, is now selling as much as at $93 per barrel on the global market this week which was selling at $43 per barrel in October 2020.
“We’ve to now buy the diesel from the world market at a price more than double the price it was selling last year”, said a BPC official working at the commercial & operations department of the organization.
He said if the current rates of petroleum continue or witness a rise, the BPC will have to incur a loss of Tk 7000—Tk 8000 crore in a year.
Light at the end of Karnaphuli tunnel
The Bangabandhu Tunnel under the river Karnaphuli , first of a kind in Bangladesh is expected to be open for vehicular movements next year, and it could even be well ahead of the scheduled time of December 2022.
Confirming the information, Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, project director of Karnaphuli Tunnel said,”‘One of the positive aspects of this project is that its duration and cost have not been increased. The work is being completed within the stipulated time.”
“There is a possibility that the construction works might even end earlier than scheduled,” he added.
The project director further said that manpower and equipment have been increased to speed up the work.
“Work is going on in full swing. We are working towards the goal of opening for moving vehicles through the tunnel before the end of next year.”
The construction work of the dream project reached a major milestone with completion of all boring-related work last Thursday, that arrived with the excavation of the second tube ( from Anwara end of Chittagong to Patenga end) of the 3.315-km tunnel.
The boring work of the first tube was completed in the first week of August last year.
Project sources told UNB that 73 % construction work of Karnaphuli tunnel has been done and dusted. In the first year after it opens to vehicular movement, some 6.3 milli0n (63 lakh) vehicles will pass through this tunnel.
In a few years, the amount of traffic will reach 14 million per year, the peo
Most of these vehicles will be container trailers, various types of good laden trucks and covered vans.
Besides, tourist buses, cars and other vehicles can also move through the tunnel, making lives much easier for the national and international tourists.
Also read: Karnaphuli Tunnel Project makes "breakthrough" amid Covid-19
SAU teacher develops fish vaccine, first of its kind in Bangladesh
An assistant professor of Sylhet Agriculture University (SAU) has developed an oral vaccine for fish, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, which can protect different species of fish from bacterial diseases and boost their production.
The vaccine will help boost fish production as it will reduce their mortality rate, assistant professor of Department of Marine Fisheries Science Faculty Dr. Abdullah Al Mamun told UNB.
Dr Abdullah started his research work on developing fish vaccine in 2016.
Read: 100 kg Baghair fish on sale for Tk 1 lakh in Sylhet
A huge number of fish die every year being infected by a bacteria named Aeromonas hydrophila that causes sores in fish , he said.
The vaccine developed by Dr Abdullah has been named as ‘Biofilm’. The vaccine will be applied to the fish after mixing it with their feed.
“During the research, a number of Pangas fish were given the vaccine at SAU research centre and we achieved 84 per cent success and now we are thinking of applying the vaccine at the field level,” he added.
The vaccine will be applied in different ponds in Sylhet from March and some ponds have been selected for this purpose, he said. “If we see success at the field level initiative will be taken for its commercial production.”
“We don’t have the capacity of producing huge vaccine but we can produce 100 milliliters of vaccine every month,” he added.
A proposal has been sent to the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences for assisting the research work, he said.
District fisheries official Abul Kalam Azad, said “Fish usually get infected with bacterial diseases and many fish die every year. In many countries fish vaccine is used for protecting fish from diseases . In Bangladesh, we usually use lime and salt.”
Read: Bogura fish farmer claims he discovered artificial breeding of kakila a year before BFRI
According to Fisheries Faculty of SAU, 28 types of vaccine are used for fish in different countries including Japan, US, Canada, Norway, Finland, Chili and it is the first time in Bangladesh that an initiative has been taken to invent vaccine for fish.
Vice Chancellor of the university Matier Rahman Hawladar, said around 40 lakh tonnes of fish are produced in Bangladesh and it holds the 5th position in fish production in the world.
“The university authorities have also allocated Tk 25 lakh for the research purpose and some modern equipment related to the research have been procured with the money,” he said.
The vaccine will help boost fish production and meet the growing demand of protein, he hoped.
Saline water invasion: Many in coastal Bagerhat taking to rainwater for survival
Rozina Begum’s tin-roofed house in Uttar Chandpai village in Mongla upazila is surrounded by water on three sides. Yet excessive salinity has rendered the water unfit for use in cooking or drinking.
Every day middle-aged Rozina walks three kilometres from her home to fetch water from a river even for cooking the family’s meals. And she has to buy saline-free drinking water.
“There have been days we passed without eating rice as there was no water to cook it,” said Rozina as she narrated her miseries to the UNB correspondent this week in her Chandpai village of the upazila.
Read:Covid fear deprives Bagerhat of its legendary Shikdar Bari’s Puja
She said her poor family also spends up to Tk 30 to 40 to collect the day’s drinking water.
Rozina’s neighbours Fuljaan Bibi, Khalil Mia, Haoa Begum, Mukul Molla and Dulal Sheikh have similar tales of water woes to share.
An invasion of saline sea water has made the sweet water in ponds, canals and other water bodies of the district’s coastal villages unfit for any use. Salinity higher than the permissible limit has been found in underground water too, making it difficult for the villagers to use well water.
Read Agro revolution to be seen in saline areas: Dr Razzaque
Up to 85 per cent of the district’s population have now little access to sweet drinkable water, according to studies. Diseases related to long-time excessive use of saline water have also become a big problem.
Many are turning to harvesting rainwater with the technology being provided by NGOs like Brac.
Baro Sardar Bari shines again after magical touch
Baro Sardar Bari, one of the most significant heritage sites in Sonargaon, is a shining example of restoration of heritage site in Bangladesh in the truest sense, not just renovation, says architect and architectural conservation specialist Prof Dr Abu Sayeed Mostaque Ahmed.
It is rare to get an entire one year or more purely to do research before the start of restoration work in Bangladesh.
“I’m lucky as I was given the time to do required research first,” said Prof Sayeed, Project Director of the Baro Sardar Bari restoration.
Also read: Jamdani brings Sonargaon in the limelight again
South Korea-based global conglomerate Youngone Corporation restored Baro Sardar Bari in Sonargaon which is the first attempt to preserve a cultural heritage site in Bangladesh.
“Kihak Sung had a dream to restore a building in Bangladesh and he chose Baro Sardar Bari after visiting many places across Bangladesh,” said the architect.
Youngone Corporation Chairman and CEO Kihak Sung restored his own village home and he has a personal interest in restoration.
Read Bangladesh’s first floating Mosque and the story of an Imam of Satkhira