Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said all should remain alert so that no one can play with the fate of the people of Bangladesh and stop the country’s remarkable journey to economic development. “We all have to keep up vigil so that no one can play ducks and drakes with the fate of people. Our development march forward must not be hindered in any way,” she said. Sheikh Hasina said this while addressing the nation marking the 3rd anniversary of her current government formed following the 11th national parliamentary election held on December 30, 2018 and stepping into four years of the present Awami League government. State-owned Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar simultaneously aired the Prime Minister’s address. Hasina formed the government for the third consecutive term on January 07, 2019 after her party Awami League’s landslide victory in the 2018 national election. She said many people cannot tolerate it as Bangladesh is now moving fast on the development highway. “So, anti-Bangladesh and anti- independence forces, both at home and aboard, are hatching various conspiracies to stop this progress.” In her 28-minute speech, the Prime Minister said the anti-Bangladesh and anti-liberation forces are trying to confuse people in social media with false, fabricated and imaginary, information in their efforts to misguide the development partners abroad also. “People are the source of power. We believe in the power of people. So, we’re with people,” she stated. Corruption & Militancy The Prime Minister said the government has taken a tough stance against corruption. “The corrupt people are not spared and won’t be spared either, no matter what their political affiliation and strength are. The Anti-Corruption Commission is discharging its duties independently in this connection. But to eradicate this disease, social awareness creation is needed,” she said. The Prime Minister mentioned that the government has resisted the emergence of militancy with an iron hand.  “Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony. The people of all religions and creeds are living here maintaining mutual tolerance and will do so in the future, too.” Read: No one will be allowed to play with people’s fate: Hasina Economic Progress Hasina said Bangladesh has made marked progress in the last 13 years. “In the South Asia, Bangladesh is leading in various socioeconomic indexes, including Poverty eradication, development of the health system, reduction of the maternal and child mortality, increase in average life expectancy, women empowerment and literacy.” She mentioned that this has been possible as people reposed trust in them. “You helped us keep up the pace of the development by giving the scope for running the country for three consecutive times. By continuing this, we’re working to build a pro-welfare, developed and prosperous Bangladesh so that Bangladesh could join the line of the developed countries by 2041. For this, you were with us and I do hope you'll be with us in the future.” To build a potential future for the new generation, Hasina said, the government has worked out all the plans for their present and future activities.  She mentioned that the young generation is full of potential and they can remove all the darkness and hurdles, and thus they will build a progressive and secular Bangladesh, which was the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.  “The power of the youth can materialise the spirit of the Liberation War of Bangladesh. My strong belief is that our next generations will move forward towards the future with their heads high.”

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.  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday announced five new packages, involving Tk 3200 crore, to assist people with little income or no income. These packages will be used to assist the low-income group of people who have been hit hard by the restrictions imposed due to the ongoing lockdown amid the alarming spread of coronavirus, said a PMO media release signed by PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim. Read:Help achieve green recovery of CVF-V20 countries: Hasina to developed nations Of the total amount, Tk 450 crore will be given to 1437,389 day-labourers, 235,033 transport workers, 50,445 small businesspeople and 1,603 shipping workers.  Some 1724,740 people will get Tk 2,500 each. To assist the low-income group of people living in urban areas, the government will conduct a special 14-day open market sale (OMS) from July 25 to August 7 across the country through 813 centres. For this, the media release said, 20,000 mt of rice and 14,000 mt of flour worth Tk 150 crire have been allocated. Read: Stimulus packages: Experts, stakeholders for speedy disbursement to CMSMEs

Some 12.4 million bank clients have directly benefited from the stimulus packages announced by the government to revive the economy by containing the Covid-19 fallout, claimed the Bangladesh Bank on Monday. In a statement, the central bank said the government had announced a total of 23 stimulus packages of Tk 124,053 crore and then it was extended by another Tk 4,250 crore through EDF, taking the total to Tk 128.303 crore. The Bangladesh Bank was directly involved in nine, out of 23, stimulus packages. Also read: ‘2nd Covid wave’ in Bangladesh: PM orders another stimulus package The statement said it was found that some 1.3 million people were the direct beneficiaries from 10 packages under which bank loans were provided to youths for employment generation, farmers for agriculture production, large industries and service sectors, small and medium industries, whole loans were distributed under the Bangabandhu Agriculture Loan and through the Ansar-VDP Bank.  Besides, an amount of Tk 5000 crore was provided as subsidy against the loans distributed for garment workers and employees for their salaries while another Tk 1,390 crore was distributed where the number of direct beneficiaries is 3.8 million and 7.3 million, with the total number of beneficiaries being 11.1 million. The total number of beneficiaries, therefore, stands at 12.4 million while 83 percent of the total stimulus package was implemented taking the total amount to Tk 83,053 crore. Some Tk 25,210 crore was distributed as loan for sectors like micro, cottage, and medium industries, agriculture re-financing scheme, low-income groups like farmers, small traders, 4 percent concessional-interest loan for agriculture, 5-year term fishery and livestock loan and Bangabandhu Youth Loans under Ansar-VDP Bank for production enhancement and poverty eradication.  Also read: Bank-Company (Amendment) Bill 2021 draft gets Cabinet nod The indirect beneficiaries are 2.4 million although the direct beneficiaries are 1.3 million in these sectors. An amount of Tk 14,654 crore, out of total Tk 20,000 stimulus package, was distributed for micro, small and medium industries where the number of beneficiaries is 95,733 persons while indirect beneficiaries are 1.1 million.  Besides, Tk 3954 crore was distributed, out of total Tk 5,000 crore refinancing loans, for the agriculture sector where the number of direct beneficiaries is 200,000 persons.  An amount of Tk 1,831 crore was distributed against the approved Tk 2,445 crore from the Tk 3000 crore re-finances scheme for the professional farmers and small traders where the number of beneficiaries is 320,000 clients. The 4 percent concessional-interest loan of Tk 4,056 crore was distributed for the agriculture sector where direct beneficiaries are 600,000.  Some Tk 154 crore was distributed, out of Tk 300 crore, through Ansar-VDP Bank while Tk 72 crore, out of allocated Tk 200 crore, was distributed for agriculture production and employment generation where direct beneficiaries are 87,000 persons. Some Tk 16,901 crore, out of Tk 17,000 crore, under the Export Development Fund (EDF), was distributed for large industries where the direct beneficiaries are 6,650.  The central bank said Bangladesh has achieved 5 economic growth while the OECD member countries have long been facing a tough situation to keep their growth at the zero level against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.  “This has been a reflection of the efficiency, capacity and sincere devotion to the work of the government, Bangladesh Bank and other sectors,” the central bank said in its statement.

Speakers at a webinar Tuesday stressed the need for framing a COVID-19 pandemic focused budget for the next fiscal year giving the highest priority to the health sector to mitigate the health-related risks alongside focusing on sound macroeconomic management, widening social safety nets, raising the tax-GDP ratio and generating more employments. They also emphasised strengthening the ongoing vaccination programme, carrying on necessary tax reforms as well as reducing the corporate tax rates, ensuring proper budget implementation and quality spending of development projects, addressing the livelihood issues in the context of pandemic, prioritising the CMSMEs and bringing the education sector under the purview of the stimulus packages. The recommendations came up with at a webinar on ‘Macroeconomy: Expectations from National Budget 2021-22’ jointly organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF). The Economic Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman agreed with the suggestions to enhance budgetary allocation on the health sector and thus strengthen the ongoing vaccination campaign. Stressing the need for carrying out necessary reforms in the financial sector and in the revenue sector, he said reforms in the capital market and bond market is also necessary to attract the large scale investors. Mashiur noted that if the lion’s share of the deficit financing could be made available from the foreign sources then its impact on the domestic sector would not be that much. He also stressed the need for boosting confidence among the businesses and investors, attracting more FDI, ensuring skills development and sound basic education up to the secondary level. Distinguished Fellow of CPD Prof Dr Mustafizur Rahman emphasised on generating more employments, giving relief to the import substitute industries through taxation, revisiting the import regulations, enhancing quality expenditure, and ensuring necessary reforms. He was also critical about the scope for whitening black money in the budget saying it is an injustice to the honest taxpayers. Executive Director of PRI Dr Ahsan H Mansur proposed allocating Tk 15,000 crore for vaccination in the next budget and that fund should be made available from day one. For the new poor being created from the impacts of the pandemic, he said only cash support is not enough for them, rather some permanent measures should be awarded. The renowned economist also suggested addressing the livelihood issues due to the pandemic, prioritising the SMEs in the stimulus packages, focusing more on expenditure and said the budget deficit could be stretched from 7 to 8 percent. Executive Director of SANEM Dr Selim Raihan called for expanding economic operations and not having an obsessed mindset on growth, rolling out social safety net schemes for the urban poor, boosting business confidence through necessary measures, increasing budget implementation and ensuring some visible reforms. Former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Chowdhury said that the next budget should be a pandemic-focused one while the education sector should be brought under the stimulus package as the losses to this sector is huge and it is invisible. "Education sector must not be less prioritised," she said. Chairman of PEB Dr M Masrur Reaz suggested for bringing around 50 percent of the country's population under the vaccination programme in the next one year, otherwise, the revival initiatives and recovery would be much tougher. He also proposed allocating one percent of GDP as social safety net for the poor as well as awarding another stimulus for the SMEs, especially for the small and micro-entrepreneurs. Senior research fellow of BIDS Dr Nazneen Ahmed strongly advocated for reducing the corporate tax rate, prioritising those development projects which are nearing completion, keeping budgetary allocation on creating health awareness as well as on health disaster management, making cheaper the internet facilities and also making available the gadgets for the poor students. BGMEA President Faruque Hassan urged the government to provide policy support to the affected industries till the crisis ends so that those could make a turnaround. He also demanded the government to keep the tax rates stable for 10 years or at least for five years for turnaround of the Industries. Chairman of Trustee Board of BUILD Abul Kasem Khan suggested for the continuation of the stimulus packages in the next budget as well as rationalizing taxation measures and improving the investment climate. MCCI President Barrister Nihad Kabir put utmost priority on ensuring qualitative spending of development projects through real-time basis monitoring and evaluation by the IMED, raising the tax-GDP ratio, giving policy support to CMSMEs, and also to check the trend of dodging tax and laundering of money abroad. DCCI President Rizwan Rahman suggested reducing the corporate tax rate progressively by 2.5 percent in the next three years and thus brings it at 25 percent to facilitate the businesses. Coming down heavily on the scope for whitening undisclosed money, he said that the business community would not accept such provision for whitening the money coming from 'burglary'. "Otherwise, the honest businesses will not feel encouraged to pay tax from the next year," he added. BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir suggested keeping the digital transaction out of the purview of VAT for the next 3 to 5 years to facilitate online transaction and wider materialisation of the 'Digital Bangladesh' initiative. ICAB President Mahmudul Hasan Khusru said the tax net is not widening that is why honest and existing taxpayers are overburdened with incremental tax recovery target. “While we would be graduating as developing country, our preferential benefits would be eroded, we’ve to compete with other developing countries. Hence, human resource development is paramount important, capacity building of our institutions and adoption of advanced technologies and professional education are also important to emphasise in the budgetary allocation,” he added. FICCI President Rupali Haque Chowdhury, former President of AmCham AKM Aftabul Islam, chief news editor of the Daily Prothom Alo Shawkat Hossain Masum, ICAB vice presidents Sidhartha Barua, Md Abdul Kader Joaddar and council member of ICAB Mohammad Forkan Uddin spoke at the webinar. Former ICAB president Md Humayun Kabir moderated the function while its CEO Shubhashish Bose spoke. ERF President Sharmin Rinvy made the opening remarks while its general secretary SM Rashidul Islam gave the vote of thanks and ICAB Vice President Maria Howlader gave the closing remarks.

The government has set itself a target to rein in the budget deficit within 5% of GDP once again from the 2021-22 fiscal, relying on a vibrant economic performance resulting from its injection of various stimulus packages for various sectors to overcome the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To cushion the effects of Covid-19 and bring the economy back to life, the government has announced 21 stimulus packages of over Tk1.21 lakh crore so far.

Speakers at a webinar on Wednesday said undertaking multiple policy initiatives focusing on the economic and social recovery becomes essential. 

With the Covid-19 pandemic morphing into a major jobs crisis in Bangladesh, experts have claimed that the various stimulus packages offered by the government lack incentives for employers to sustain employment.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday asked the world community to treat the Covid-19 vaccine as a ‘global public good’ and urged the United Nations to ensure its timely availability of the vaccine to all countries at a time.