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PM-JS-GRAFT-2 DHAKA
The premier said that her government has passed the national budget of Tk 5,68,000 crore so that Bangladesh can cope with the pace of the world’s progress once the stability is resumed after the COVID-19 pandemic.
She added: “We know there is a question whether we can implement the budget fully because of this coronavirus…. If the situation turns normal (soon), we’ll be able to do so. If this instability (arising out of Covid-19) continues across the world, we may not achieve our target, but we place it so that our economic activities continue.”
The premier greeted all concerned relating to the formulation of the budget, saying that her government has been able to place the budget when many developed countries could not do so as the Covid-19 has been rattling the world.
The Prime Minister said the government will increase the humanitarian assistances alongside expanding the coverage of the social safety net programmes as many people lost their works amid the pandemic.
She said she would not bother whether the government expenditure would go up due to taking the humanitarian measures to minimise the plight of people.
In this context, she said that the government has announced 19 stimulus packages so that everyone can continue running his or her economic activities.
The premier also said that her government has taken the decision of closing down the state-run jute mills across the country with paying all the dues of 25,000 workers as the government is set to restart those after making them time-befitting and technology-enriched to meet the demand of the international markets.
She added that the jute mills are age-old established in 50s and 60s and for this, they could not make profit and incurred losses to the public exchequer years after years and the government had to pay salaries of the regular and irregular workers.
Now the government would pay all the dues (including retirement benefit) of the workers – 50 percent in cash and 50 percent in saving certificates – so that they could get an amount in every three months which will help them run their families properly, she said.
She mentioned that it would require Taka 5000 crore to pay the dues of the workers.
Of the workers, the interested ones would be given proper training and they would get priority in jobs in case of restarting the jute mills as those would require efficient workers, she said.
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