Covid-19 caused damages worth $17 billion to Bangladesh’s economy: PM

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused $17 billion damage to the country's economy since March last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament today.

"According to our initial estimates, the coronavirus has caused $17 billion losses to the economy in the fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021," the premier said in her concluding remarks on the budget for the next financial year.

She said the government has been implementing 23 incentive packages worth $15.2 billion to recover the losses.