In the garment industry, the July salary incentive package, but the interest is higher

During the epidemic, the owners will be able to pay the salaries of the garment workers for the current month from the government's incentive package. But this time you have to pay 4 and a half percent interest.

After the onset of the coronavirus epidemic, the government set up an incentive fund of Tk 5,000 crore to pay salaries and allowances to garment workers.

From that fund, the employers paid the workers' salaries and allowances in April, May, and June with a loan at 2 percent 'service charge' (interest).

Even after the expiration of the fund, the crisis has not yet subsided. Therefore, the size of the fund has been increased by Tk 3,000 crore to Tk 33,000 crore.

Bangladesh Bank on Thursday sent a letter to the chief executives of all the banks.

According to the letter, the owners of the garment industry will get a loan from this fund to pay their last wages this July. All the entrepreneurs who got loans last June will not get any new ones.

However, the borrower will pay 9 percent interest on the loan, half or 4 and a half percent of which will be subsidized by the government.

As a result, if the garment industry owners take a loan from the bank in July to pay the workers, they will have to pay 4.5 percent interest.

As a large number of procurement orders have been suspended and canceled due to the epidemic, the garment industry owners have taken a large part of the incentive fund of Tk 5,000 crore to pay the workers.

Then, on June 22, the presidents of the two owners' organizations, BGMEA and BKMEA, jointly wrote to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in July, August, and September asking for easy loans to pay wages. They said most factories do not have the capacity to pay wages in the current situation.

In the aftermath of the epidemic, a total of ৮ 317 million worth of purchases in the garment industry were canceled and suspended. In April, only ৬ 360 million worth of garments were exported. The following month it rose to ৩ 123 million. In June, it rose further to ৫ 2.25 billion. In the first 12 days of July, garments worth ৮ 970 million were exported.

BKMEA vice-president Mohammad Hatem told bdnews24.com on Thursday, "We asked for a loan from the two organizations for their salaries in July, August, and September. Bangladesh Bank has agreed to give a loan for one month's salary and allowances."

“The situation is slowly improving. However, no one can say for sure how long it will be normal. We hope the government will consider August and September as well. ”