Sohel Parvez

Farmers who have cultivated black tiger shrimp for the export markets in the hope of making profits were dealt with a massive blow by the coronavirus pandemic, which has shattered their dreams by devastating the supply chain and prompting a collapse in demand.

The revenue board yesterday directed its customs stations to facilitate clearance of all export and import consignments, moving away from its previous position to process documents for only essentials, industrial raw materials and emergency medical products.

Food insecurity among the poor and economically vulnerable population has started and the crisis will intensify by the end of this month if the government does not take any immediate steps, said a recent study.

Supermarkets are registering surging sales amid people’s quest to find a more sanitised place than kitchen markets to buy foodstuffs and household products in these times of coronavirus.

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

Since April 1, Farhana Nazira is having trouble sleeping.

The rapid spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh has shattered traders’ hopes of a sales bonanza of hilsha fish marking the celebration of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla new year.

The government will purchase 50 per cent more paddy from farmers in the Boro harvesting season that begins from the latter half of this month with the view to encouraging farmers and for distribution to those who saw their livelihoods evaporate for the outbreak of coronavirus in Bangladesh.

The National Board of Revenue yesterday widened the scope to assess the duty of more imported items in order to ease the burden on the Chattogram port that is mired in container congestion.

Over a week into the stay-home order across the country, hungry and half-fed faces have started to grow in a huge number.

The government is set to bear a portion of the interest payments on working capital of small and medium enterprises that have been hit hard by the ongoing shutdown amid coronavirus scare.

If you happen to be in the southwest village Godkhali or its neighbourhood Panisara, you will find there is no dearth of colours from the stretches of rose, tuberose, marigold, gerbera and gladiolus gardens.

For weeks now, the nation has been obsessed with one set of numbers: how many confirmed cases of coronavirus and how many have died?

The roads are empty. People are hunkering down at home and not coming out other than for essential needs at the kitchen markets, supershops, and pharmacies.

Over the last few days, Health and Hope Hospital has put a restriction on the number of attendants with a patient to just one, at any time of the day.

The revenue board has opposed a commerce ministry suggestion to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on edible oil on the grounds that the imposition of the indirect tax has little effect on the prices of key cooking ingredient.

The apprehension of a potential lockdown to rein in the coronavirus spread has led to the stockpiling of some essential commodities but businesses said there was nothing to be worried about.

It’s all colourful.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set to remove all forms of import duties and taxes to encourage quick import of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), raw materials used in hand sanitisers, coronavirus testing kits and re-agents, said finance ministry officials yesterday.

Perhaps the most sought items today are hand sanitisers and alcohol-based hand rubs, once rarely used, as people scramble to protect themselves from the lethal coronavirus.