BGMEA seeks interest-free loan for 6 months
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The Bangladesh Garment Producers and Exporters Association has sought interest-free loans for another half a year with a three-year repayment facility for textile and readymade garment sectors in order that the factories can meet their overhead expenses, including payment of workers’ wages, bonus and bills.
BGMEA president Rubana Huq in a recently available letter to the primary minister’s principal secretary, Ahmad Kaikaus, located a set of demands, including interest-free loan service and suspension of rules and regulations linked to export proceed realisation for six months, as a support to the sectors to overcome the bad affect of coronavirus pandemic.
The BGMEA in its letter said that Bangladesh Lender should re-finance the commercial banking institutions for providing interest-free loans to apparel exporters with a six-month grace period and payable in equal instalments in the next 30 months.
Commercial banks should also waive interest on existing loans for half a year and should not charge any kind of special interest about payable instalments of existing term-loan or advances in the next six months, it said.
The trade body also demanded an extension of tenure of loan classification to180 days.
In addition, it recommended the simplification of types of procedures of getting foreign currency loans.
The apex body of RMG exporters also said that banks shouldn't create forced loans in the event of failure of timely payment of back to back letter of credits.
Enough time for repayment also needs to be extended, it said.
The government also needs to suspend the rules and regulations linked to export proceeds realisation for six months.
Rubana also sought repayment tenure extension up to 90 days for loans against Laptop or computer and EDF.
The tenure of EDF should be extended to 270 times from current 180 times if the back-to-back again LCs are opened against EDF, she wrote.
Apparel exporters also needs to be given additional 90 days for submission of bill of entry and EXP reporting.
The BGMEA also sought Tk 5 for each US dollar of retention value during April, 2020 to December 2020 to keep carefully the local exporters competitive using its global competitors.
The government will require around Tk 3,000 crore for the purpose, it said.
Rubana found in the letter sent on March 15 sought steps of primary minister’s principal secretary to consider the proposals to keep carefully the sector vibrant and ensure livelihoods of an incredible number of staff in the sector.
She said that global buyers have been cancelling their export orders or delaying ongoing shipments and reducing the quantity of future orders as the impact of the epidemic.
The problem is severely affecting Bangladesh export which has declined by 25.90 % so far in today's fiscal year 2020 weighed against that in the same amount of the last FY2019, she said.
Bangladesh Trade Union Center general secretary Wajed-ul Islam Khan, however, told MODERN that it had been not rational to get such facilities before assessment of real damages due to the coronavirus outbreak.
‘The trade body can demand incentives from the federal government but it cannot seek interest-free of charge loans for workers’ wages since it is taxpayers’ money,’ he said.
He said that garment owners have been doing business for so many years and making profits.
‘Where have all of the profits gone because they cannot handle a problem developed just a few days?’ he questioned.
Source: https://www.newagebd.net
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