Govt approves 2 more stimulus packages worth Tk 2,700cr

The government has approved two more stimulus packages worth Tk2,700 crore to infuse dynamism into cottage, micro and medium industry to offset the Covid-19 shock, improve rural marginal people’s livelihood and expand social safety nets for extremely poor elderly people and widows.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the two stimulus packages and implementation of the packages will start shortly, said a Finance Ministry press release on Sunday.

The release said with the addition of the two latest packages, the total number of stimulus packages now stands at 23 with an overall outlay of Tk1,24,053 crore which is also 4.44% of the GDP.

The size of the freshly approved first stimulus package is Tk1,500 crore and of this amount, Tk300 crore will be given to the SME Foundation for expanding its operations meant for the cottage and SMEs alongside facilitating female entrepreneurs.

Besides, Tk100 crore will be provided to BSCIC, Tk50 crore to Joyeeta Foundation, Tk50 crore to the NGO Foundation to undertake various programs to improve the livelihood of marginal people, Tk300 crore to Social Development Foundation, Tk300 crore to Palli Daridro Bimochon Foundation, Tk100 crore to Small Farmer Development Foundation and Tk300 crore to Bangladesh Rural Development Board.

The size of the second stimulus package is Tk1,200 crore and it will be spent for bringing poor people, widows and husband abandoned women of some 150 upazilas under the government allowances in the next fiscal year (FY22).

Also read - What is the progress on stimulus package distribution

The Finance Division had recently organized three view-exchange meetings on the overall aspects of stimulus packages and economic recovery in the wake of Covid-19.

The meetings suggested expanding the coverage of credit through various government and semi government agencies related to cottage, SMEs, alongside the banking system to infuse more dynamism in the rural economy to deal with the Covid-19 situation.

Besides, the participants in the meeting also advocated for taking more steps for developing women entrepreneurship, improving the livelihood of the marginal people in rural areas to further alleviate poverty and thus expanding the social safety nets for the extreme poor families.

Top government officials, business leaders, representatives from banks, financial institutions, development partners and agencies, research organizations, stakeholders of various sectors and media personnel attended the meetings.