Rejaul Karim Byron

Government agencies and banks have almost completed their preparations to implement 18 stimulus packages worth Tk 95,619 crore to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Keeping in mind the devastating impact of coronavirus and long, arduous road to recovery, the government has prepared a draft budget of Tk 550,000 crore for the next fiscal year, up 5 per cent from this year’s.

Where does this end? The Bangladesh economy now stands to lose a staggering $13.3 billion for the coronavirus outbreak, according to the Asian Development Bank, which is more than four times the amount of damage the Manila-based multilateral lender had predicted back in March.

The global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service yesterday gave a negative outlook for the country’s banking sector for the next 12 to 18 months as coronavirus-induced disruptions to domestic and export demand is deteriorating lenders’ credit profiles.

Revenue collection soared 8 per cent in the first nine months of the fiscal year, paced by the increased collection of advance corporate tax and higher receipts of indirect tax value-added tax (VAT).

Social safety net schemes and the farm sector are set to get prime focus in next fiscal year’s budget as the government looks to mop up the destruction of the global coronavirus pandemic, which stands to wipe off the gains Bangladesh made in poverty reduction over the past decade.

As the government is having to allocate additional funds for certain sectors to combat the coronavirus outbreak, it has suspended financing for all “low priority” projects in the Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for this fiscal year, officials said.

Bangladesh has sought $450 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for this fiscal year to meet the emergency health expenditure and finance the massive stimulus packages the country has unveiled in the face of coronavirus outbreak.

Remittance flow to Bangladesh may plunge by as much as 22 per cent in 2020 because of the fallout of the global coronavirus pandemic, in a major blow to the economy, said the World Bank yesterday.

At least 10 industry bodies have applied to both the finance ministry and the Bangladesh Bank to get financial support from the Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package for the export-oriented industries.

Bangladesh has sought an additional $1.25 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to ballast the country’s purses in its fight against coronavirus and beyond.

Bangladesh has turned to multilateral lenders in earnest to pull the country out of the wreckage of COVID-19, which has left the country’s tremendous growth momentum of recent years coming crashing down.

The government will provide two months’ basic salary as incentive for doctors and other health workers who are on the front line in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal plans to unveil the national budget for next fiscal year on June 11 amid deepening uncertainties brought on by the deadly coronavirus.

There is no denying that 2020 is a write-off for the high-flying Bangladesh economy, shot down to the ground by the novel coronavirus.

An announcement from the National Board of Revenue regarding the filing of value-added tax returns have thrown businesses into trouble.

The government is set to transfer Tk 2,000 in cash to each of about 40 lakh families whose breadwinners have lost jobs because of lockdown, as part of its efforts to keep the most vulnerable segment of the society at home to tackle the deadly virus.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said it was premature to project what will be the country’s economic growth in the current fiscal.

Bangladesh’s tremendous growth momentum in recent years is set to come to a crashing halt for the coronavirus outbreak in the country, with the poor and informal sector bearing the most brunt, said the World Bank yesterday.

The government is set to unveil its third stimulus package soon, offering cash aid to poor families that have been hit hard by the ongoing shutdown amid coronavirus scare.