The government has decided to hold three view-exchange meetings with trade groups, banks and the ministries concerned to find a way forward to speed up the disbursement of stimulus packages to offset the Covid-19 shock.
The Finance Division under the Finance Ministry will hold the meetings in 3 episodes at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.
The first meeting will take place on November 26 with the theme “Employment generation and rejuvenation of rural economy”. Senior Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder will chair the meeting. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will be present at that meeting as the chief guest while Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir will remain present as the special guest.
The second meeting will be held on December 3 with the theme “Employment generation and rejuvenation of rural economy”. Planning Minister MA Mannan will remain present at the view-exchange meeting as the chief guest while Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam will present as the special guest.
The third and the last meeting will be held on December 10 with the title “Expanding the coverage of social safety nets and ensuring food security”. Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque will remain present at that meeting as the chief guest while Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Kaikaus will present as the special guest.
A finance division official said they would listen to both the stakeholders and bankers on how the execution of incentives packages can be fast-tracked.
Presidents of chambers and associations, policymakers, borrowers and heads of think-tanks will attend the meeting as they can describe the actual situation of the recovery package implementation and the barriers.
Moreover, Country’s eminent economists, researchers, chiefs of the multilateral development partner agencies, ambassadors of various countries as well as journalists from print and electronic media will remain present in the view-exchange meetings as discussants while they would take part in the open discussion and question-answer session.
Earlier, the Cabinet Division asked the Finance Ministry to find ways to expedite the disbursement of stimulus packages as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been alleging that they are not getting the required loans.
Banking data also showed MSMEs were not getting loans from the recovery packages earmarked for them.
According to the available data, until September 30, only Taka 48.23 billion was disbursed among the smaller enterprises from the Taka 200 billion package announced for the sector.
The government has so far announced 21 stimulus packages worth Taka 1.13 trillion to help the businesses and affected people recover from the pandemic shocks.
On the other hand, out of Taka 330 billion, as much as Taka 213.29 billion was disbursed from the package set aside as working capital to the affected industrial and service sector enterprises.
Of the $5 billion Export Development Fund, so far $4.7 billion has been disbursed for the export sector.
From the Taka 50 billion pre-shipment credit refinance scheme, so far some Taka 166 million has been released.
The entire amount of Taka 50 billion package for the export-oriented industrial units has been disbursed, mostly given to provide salaries to the apparel sector workers.
No money so far has been disbursed from the Taka 1 billion package for doctors, nurses, and health workers' honorarium.
Only Taka 85 million was disbursed among the government employees who died of Covid-19 as part of health insurance and life insurance.
Of the Taka 25 billion incentive packages for distributing rice, baby food, and other foods, only Taka 10.67 billion was disbursed until September.
The government distributed Taka 8.8 billion out of the Taka 12.58 billion package announced for poor families with Tk 2,500 in cash support each.
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