Jagaran Chakma

The country’s steel manufacturers will likely find it increasingly difficult to recover from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the government did not include their demands in the budget for fiscal 2020-21, said the Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association.

Local steel building makers yesterday urged the government to impose a duty on the import of finished steel products by foreign companies to safeguard the domestic industry.

Cement manufacturers are frustrated over their demands being left unaddressed in the proposed budget, from which they had hoped to avail some assistance to cope with losses incurred for the pandemic.

Bangladesh is gradually being weighed down by foreign loans, understandable through the budgetary allocation for external debt repayment, which would fester in the upcoming fiscal year and undermine efforts to revive the economy bogged down by the novel coronavirus.

Trade body and business chamber leaders said the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is largely dependent on prompt implementation of the stimulus package.

Real estate companies have urged the government to allow black money to be invested in the housing sector through the upcoming budget without prying into the sources as it would help the vulnerable industry survive the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The cement manufacturers have sought a 60 per cent cut in import duty on clinker and waiver on existing loan interest, to recover from the losses they suffered since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Local light engineering product manufacturers have sought withdrawal of the 5 per cent advance income tax (AIT) on the import of basic raw materials as the sector has been struggling to survive amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The motorcycle makers’ association has demanded an 81 per cent cut in bike registration fees in next fiscal year’s budget as the purchasing power of the general mass has seen a sharp fall due to the pandemic.

Although most of Bangladesh’s major construction projects were put on hold amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (Adani Ports & SEZ), began land development at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) in Mirsarai, Chattogram during the recent nationwide lockdown.

The government will set up isolation and critical care units in district hospitals all over the country as part of its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Two projects worth Tk 2,492 crore chalked out as part of the government’s plan to fight the pandemic will be tabled in today’s meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec).

Japan’s largest mobile firm NTT DoCoMo is leaving Bangladesh after 12 years completely empty-handed despite injecting $350 million in the country.

Local pharmaceuticals have started commercial production of an anti-flu and viral infection medication found effective in treating novel coronavirus patients by Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and Bangladesh Air Force (BAF).

Beximco Pharmaceuticals yesterday handed over the first batch of its antiviral drug remdesivir that has shown the most promise in treating Covid-19 patients by cutting the duration of symptoms from 15 days to 11.

The central bank has relaxed regulations for foreign firms operating in Bangladesh such that they can bring in short-term working capital from abroad to tide them over during the pandemic, which has choked off their cash flows.

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.

The investors of the 47-kilometre Dhaka Elevated Expressway are committed to completing the project as rapidly as possible as implementation had faced a setback due to the pandemic and a fund crisis, said AHMS Aktar, the project director.

The global coronavirus pandemic has left no sector unscathed and stopped hardly any businesses from turning to the government for a pie of the stimulus package announced to mitigate the economic fallout.

This was supposed to be a busy summer for the air conditioner manufacturers, what Bangladesh’s tremendous growth momentum that is raising the purchasing capacity of the middle-class and getting better access to electricity and the mercury inching up every year.