The government has approved two more stimulus packages worth Tk 2,700 crore to counteract the economic challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved these two stimulus packages with an aim to infuse dynamism into cottage, micro and medium industry, improve rural marginal people’s livelihood and expand social safety nets for extreme poor aged-people and widows.

The packages will be implemented shortly, said a Finance Ministry press release on Sunday.

The release said with the addition of two latest packages, the total number of stimulus packages now stood at 23 with an overall outlay of Tk 1,24,053 crore which is also 4.44 percent of GDP.

The size of the freshly approved first stimulus package is Tk 1,500 crore and out of this amount, Tk 300 crore will be given to the SME Foundation for expanding its operations meant for the cottage and SMEs alongside facilitating the female entrepreneurs.

Besides, Tk 100 crore will be provided to BSCIC, Tk 50 crore to Joyeeta Foundation, Tk 50 crore to the NGO Foundation to undertake various programmes to improve the livelihood of marginal people, Tk 300 crore to Social Development Foundation, Tk 300 crore to Palli Daridro Bimochon Foundation, Tk 100 crore to Small Farmer Development Foundation, and Tk 300 crore to Bangladesh Rural Development Board.

The size of the fresh 2nd stimulus package is Tk 1,200 crore and it will be spent for bringing the poor people, widows and husband abandoned women of some 150 upazilas under the government allowances in the next fiscal year (FY22).

The Finance Division has recently organised three view-exchange meetings on the overall aspects of stimulus packages and economic recovery in the wake of COVID-19.

BDST: 1545 HRS, JAN 17, 2021
AP/SMS