Rejaul Karim Byron

Bangladesh yesterday got the first tranche of the $1 billion loan pledged by Japan to bounce back from economic whiplash brought on by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Amnesty to black money has always been a nonstarter, so Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s move to tuck in the facility with added benefits in this fiscal year’s budget has left many scratching their heads.

Banks came under milder than usual strong fund withdrawal pressure ahead of Eid-ul-Azha this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, countrywide floods and job and income losses.

The government is set to make an all-out effort from next month to generate an increased amount of revenue from the legalisation of untaxed money as it needs the sum to kickstart the coronavirus-ravaged economy.

Irregularities and apathy have become a permanent feature of project implementation in Bangladesh, thanks to which no infrastructure is ever ready on time.

Dhaka has decided to charge Tk 2 per tonne per kilometre in road usage fees for Indian goods that would be transshipped using Bangladesh’s territory, officials said.

The government is aiming to lift private investment to GDP ratio to a record 25.3 per cent this fiscal year although the coronavirus-induced uncertainty showed no signs of abating and structural challenges are largely unaddressed.

Nearly 6.53 crore poor people in Bangladesh should receive time-bound temporary cash payments to cope with the worst impacts of Covid-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations.

Bangladesh’s budget deficit may shoot to as high as 10 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal year as the government would have to keep spending more to tackle the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic amid a drastic fall in revenue generation, the World Bank said.

The government has brought in a major amendment to the Companies Act allowing setting up of single-member companies, a move that is expected to give a boost to entrepreneurship, draw investors and support the growth of SMEs.

The two-and-half-month-long countrywide general shutdown was supposed to cause a massive dent to the state’s coffer as the economic locomotive was effectively chained to its track in the station.

Foreign aid disbursement rose more than 28 per cent to $8 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year riding on the increased flow of budget support from development lenders to help Bangladesh ride out the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has gone one step further to tighten its belt amid drying up of revenues as it suspended 50 per cent budgetary allocation for the expenses for both foreign and local tours of officials and banned all routine travels.

Pandemic-hit apparel exporters have sought continuation of low-cost loans from the government for three more months to help them pay wages to workers as the sector is struggling to stay afloat.

The government has decided to put a hold on the implementation of low-priority development projects involving Tk 40,000 crore to free up funds for the productive sectors amid widening revenue shortfall.

The government yesterday approved a Tk 3,020 crore project -- the biggest ever scheme for farm sector -- to provide price support to farmers in purchasing agricultural machinery.

Sometimes, one just needs to resign to reality.

The government has decided not to purchase new vehicles under all operating and development expenses for the rest of 2020 as part of its austerity measures in face of falling revenues owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

A staggering two-thirds of the 50 lakh poor families hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are yet to receive Tk 2,500 each in cash support because of the flawed list although they have been languishing in poverty for the last three months.

The government is set to distribute 10-kilogramme rice for free to each of over one crore “ultra-poor and destitute families” ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.