93pc women entrepreneurs ignore COVID stimulus fund for hassle

About 93 per cent of women entrepreneurs of cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises did not apply for the stimulus fund offered by the government to combat COVID-19 economic fallout because of the procedural complexities and unwillingness of banks to provide loans.

On the other hand, 87 per cent of women entrepreneurs who took the stimulus package said the package did not benefit them.

A survey titled Impact of COVID-19 on Women Entrepreneurs: A Rapid Assessment from Bangladesh conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue revealed the findings through a virtual conference Thursday.

The telephonic survey was conducted on 70 female entrepreneurs from 34 districts under eight divisions.

As per the survey findings, bank officials did not encourage women to take loan saying that there was no such loan for women SMEs yet and the lengthy process also stands obstacle for applying and release of the loan.

Lack of information regarding where to go, who to ask, what to do and how to apply for it also discouraged them from applying for loans.

Around 59 per cent of women entrepreneurs were not informed of the stimulus package announced by the government for Women CMSMEs in view of COVID-19.

In addition, banks were unwilling to provide the amount of money that they need, while they also were not interested to provide loans to single women.

However, bank officials told them that there were no orders from the authority to give loans to women.

On top of that, most of the entrepreneurs witnessed a decline in their income and they were worried about monthly repayment of loans.

Survey findings showed 93.3 per cent of women entrepreneurs were not benefited from the government liquidity support.

In a bid to give the people a respite, the government allocated Tk 2,500 per household for 50 lakh people.

According to the report, 66 per cent of the elderly population followed by 70.6 per cent of children were not covered with any social protection benefits.

Meanwhile, 79.1 per cent of women with newborns were not receiving maternity benefits, while 81.5 per cent of people with disabilities, were not protected with benefits.

“The government’s COVID-19 liquidity support and fiscal stimulus packages were not designed with women in mind, and hence have not been fully successful in addressing women’s special needs during the pandemic,” said Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD in her keynote presentation.

Most women are unaware of the government’s COVID-19 liquidity support and fiscal stimulus packages, said Fahmida.

“Women who were aware of the government’s liquidity support packages were still reluctant to apply for loans.”

Due to the economic downturn and the uncertainty regarding the future, women need cash handouts more than loans and so fiscal measures would be more effective in easing the burden of the pandemic on women than monetary measures, she added.

io/aj