The government is positively considering a proposal of the leather sector for keeping their loan interest in block account for one year to help the sector cope with the existing crisis, officials said. The finance minister said the proposals put forward by the leather sector were logical. He also advised the senior officials concerned of the finance ministry to take necessary steps in this regard, they said.The government is likely to give the tanners scope for making loan repayments within 08 years with one-year moratorium, they also mentioned.”We have made three proposals to the government for the leather sector. The government is considering the proposals positively,” president of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA) Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin told the FE on Sunday.The country’s leather exporters are passing hard time as they cannot export their products now. But they are still paying wages and allowances to workers and making interest payments of bank loan. This is why the sector is now at stake, he added.BFLLFEA applied to the finance minister last month, seeking long-term soft loan, incentives on exporting crushed and finished leather and block account facility for two years, a finance division official said.Currently, tanneries are being relocated to Savar from Hazaribagh. The construction of factories, importing necessary machinery and transferring machinery are also going on. The entrepreneurs of the country’s leather sector have already invested Tk 20 billion in this regard. Besides, they have been facing problems for not to get required loan on this purpose, a source concerned said. Besides, the leather sector is going to suffer the same fate as the problematic jute sector due to its existing problems, he said.
