The government in Bangladesh may consider another package of incentives for exporting clothing to enable it to pay August ‘s salaries, says Minister of Finance AHM Mustafa Kamal. On the eve of Bangladesh embarking on a countrywide shutdown on March 26, the government announced a Tk 5,000-crore special package for three months starting from April to pay the wages and allowances of the export-oriented industry workers.
The government releases another Tk 2,500 crore from the rescue package for the major industries affected by the pandemic was later found to be insufficient. Banks paid the amount directly into the bank or mobile accounts of workers. The loan without interest paid a service charge of 2 percent. Then, on June 22, the Bangladesh Association of Factories of Knitwears and Exporters (BGMEA) in Bangladesh (BKMEA), whose members generate the majority of the export receipts, wrote jointly to Kamal seeking a further three months until September, for the continuation of low-cost lending.
Clothing manufacturers are deeply concerned about the activities carried out, the future of the sector and the way workers can pay their wages, said the joint letter which was sent also to the chief secretary of the prime minister. Clothing plants in Bangladesh have faced more than $3 billion worth of order cancelations or suspensions, as a consequence of the pandemic. In the immediate last fiscal year, earnings from clothing shipments fell to their lowest in a decade of 27.8 billion dollars. The level in the 2018-19 fiscal year is 18.5 percent lower.
