Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Despite nine years of work and expenditure of nearly Tk 500 crore, the construction of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant in the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate (STIE) has not been completed.

Nizam Uddin, a sewing machine operator at a garment factory in Ashulia, cannot decide whether to go to his village in Mymensingh to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with his family.

International retailers and brands are putting on hold work orders placed with many factories amidst the uncertainty over whether garment factories will be allowed to run during the upcoming 14-day lockdown beginning July 23, said exporters.

The government considers allowing garment factories to be open so that the biggest export-earning sector can continue production and keep their commitment with international buyers.

Garment shipment will suffer a serious setback if production is suspended in July and August as it is the prime season for apparel manufacturers since sales rise in the Western market because of winter and Christmas, exporters said.

Labour leaders yesterday called on the government to form a committee as soon as possible to pay compensation to the victims of the fire incident at Hashem Foods Ltd in Narayanganj.

Hardly any improvement in workplace safety has taken place at the non-garment factories over the years as the authorities were primarily bogged down in fixing the loopholes in the apparel industry.

Export earnings rebounded strongly in the just-concluded fiscal year, fetching $38.75 billion, buoyed by a revival in the shipment of garment items, official figures showed yesterday.

Many garment workers faced trouble yesterday as they walked to their workplaces in absence of public transport and for not having any transport arranged by the factories on the first day of a week-long strict countrywide lockdown.

The parliament yesterday passed the finance bill for fiscal 2021-22 without addressing calls for reassessing some vital tax issues, including easing the burden on small incomes amidst rising prices of essentials and additional costs to maintain hygiene.

Garment factory owners have expressed their intention to keep running their industrial units during the upcoming lockdown, while union leaders are divided on the issues of ensuring workers’ safety and livelihoods.

Bangladesh’s primary textile sector is undergoing rapid changes with local millers taking to producing significant amounts of manmade fibres alongside cotton fibres to meet rising global demand.

They were the hardest hit segment when the whole economy came to a halt because of the countrywide pandemic-induced lockdown.

Bangladesh has joined two other countries to lead the global cotton trade recovery as the demand for the commodity has risen sharply thanks to buoyant apparel shipments, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Local garment exporters are feeling the pinch of a sudden unusual rise in yarn prices in the local and international markets, a development that is threatening to derail the recovery of the apparel shipment from the pandemic-induced slowdown.

Bangladesh needs to bring in further progress to the business regulatory environment in order to retain and attract foreign investors, said the top leader of the trade body of global firms operating in the country.

A fresh stimulus package of at least Tk 20,000 crore is needed specifically for the survival and revival of cottage and micro enterprises (CMEs) as those are most vulnerable to the Covid-19 fallout, said Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

The budget has not proposed any direct cash support to revive the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) sector, where millions of workers lost jobs, though the government proposed some short tax-relief measures.

The one-person company (OPC) law is off to a disappointing start as no single entrepreneur has come forward to incorporate firms under the provision although six months have passed since its passage.

The government should implement the current stimulus packages for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) and announce another round of support in the upcoming budget to help them survive, said experts and entrepreneurs.