Booksellers demand Tk 1,000cr stimulus

Staff Correspondent

Booksellers and publishers on Sunday demanded a minimum of Tk 1,000 crore as stimulus package to save the sector from the economic fallout of Covid-19 pandemic.

In a press conference in Dhaka, leaders of Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association (BAPUS) also demanded a grant worth Tk 100 crore and Tk 500 crore as working capital to help the sector recover from heavy losses during the pandemic.

“The country’s academic and creative publishing and sales agencies were unable to make sales in the last 16 months, worth around Tk 12,500 crore, due to Covid-19, said BAPUS President Md Arif Hossain.

“Book sales almost came to a halt due to the closure of educational institutions. Many sellers and publishers are now buried under loans they took for paying rent, salaries and family expenses,” he added.

“Till now, most of our publishers and sellers remain deprived of the government-announced stimulus packages for industrial and business organisations as the packages were implied to those who had already taken bank loans,” Arif added.