With a hope to overcome the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is expected to end his budget speech for the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21) by quoting from Surah Al-Baqarah of the Quran.
He will quote the verse 155 of Surah Al- Baqarah that reads: “And We will most certainly try (test) you with fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits. And give glad tidings to the patient.”
The national budget for FY21 is supposed to be placed before the parliament on June 11 (Thursday).
According to the budget speech, “The Almighty Creator has promised that He will do nothing to harm His creation...So soon He will save us all from this pandemic by sheltering us in the cool shade of His welfare and we will go back to our normal life…”
The Global Covid-19 pandemic has left devastating impacts on lives and livelihoods in Bangladesh.
Since the first positive cases of the virus were recorded in the country on March 8, both the cases and deaths have continued to increase manifold.
The country on Sunday registered 42 new deaths from coronavirus -- the most in a single day bringing the body count to 888.
According to the health directorate, the caseload surged to 65,769 on the back of 2,743 positive cases in the 24 hours until 8:00 am the same day.
Earlier, the leader of a Bangladeshi research team at Gonoshasthaya Kendra Hospital Dr Bijon Kumar Sil also said Bangladesh might see a peak in Covid-19 cases in the middle of June or so. Bijon and his team invented a $3 test kit that can detect the coronavirus in less than 15 minutes.
Last month, while receiving contributions for the Prime Minister’s Relief and Welfare Fund, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the coronavirus crisis had dealt a huge blow to her government's efforts to put Bangladesh on the path of economic prosperity.
But the prime minister expressed optimism that the situation would change and wanted everyone to be brave enough to ride out the crisis caused by the pandemic.
“I hope Bangladesh will overcome this hurdle and move forward…,” she then said.
