Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has expressed heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for declaring a stimulus package of Tk 5,000 crore for the export-oriented industries of the country. The prime minister in a nationwide address on Wednesday announced the Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package for export-oriented industries to fight the impact of coronavirus on the country’s economy. “I’m declaring a stimulus package of Tk 5,000 crore for export-oriented industries which could only be used for paying salaries and allowances of their workers and employees,” she said in her address on the eve of the Independence and National Day 2020 on Wednesday. Immediately after the premier’s announcement, BGMEA President Dr Rubana Haque in a video message expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the prime minister for declaring the stimulus package. In the message, Dr Rubana said the readymade garment (RMG) industries are going through a critical time, and lakhs of their workers are facing risk (of losing job) due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus across the globe, including Bangladesh. “But honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s timely announcement of Tk 5,000 crore package for paying salaries and allowances of the workers and employees of the industries will save their lives,” she said. “For this, our entire industrial sector, including export-oriented industries, express heartfelt gratitude to the prime minister,” the BGMEA president added. In her address, the premier also declared a number of measures of her government to combat the impact of novel coronavirus or Covid-19 on the country’s economy. She said the Bangladesh Bank has already taken some business-friendly initiatives. “The central bank has announced not to declare any client loan defaulter by till June this year,” the premier said. Sheikh Hasina said the deadline of collecting income from export has been extended to six months from two months. “Similarly, timeframe of meeting up import expenditure has also been extended to six months from four months,” she said.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has sought interest-free loans for the next six months with a three-year repayment facility for textile and readymade garment sectors so that the factories can meet their overhead expenses, including payment of workers’ wages, bonus and utility bills. BGMEA president Rubana Huq in a recent letter to the prime minister’s principal secretary, Ahmad Kaikaus, placed a set of demands, including interest-free loan facility and suspension of rules and regulations related to export proceed realisation for six months, as a support to the sectors to overcome the negative impact of coronavirus pandemic. The BGMEA in its letter said that Bangladesh Bank should re-finance the commercial banks for providing interest-free loans to apparel exporters with a six-month grace period and payable in equal instalments in the next 30 months. Commercial banks should also waive interest on existing loans for six months and should not charge any special interest on payable instalments of existing term-loan or advances in the next six months, it said. The trade body also demanded an extension of tenure of loan classification to180 days. It also recommended the simplification of procedures of receiving foreign currency loans. The apex body of RMG exporters also said that banks should not create forced loans in case of failure of timely payment of back to back letter of credits. The time for repayment should also be extended, it said. The government should also suspend the rules and regulations related to export proceeds realisation for six months. Rubana also sought repayment tenure extension up to three months for loans against PC and EDF. The tenure of EDF should be extended to 270 days  from current 180 days if the back-to-back LCs are opened against EDF, she wrote. Apparel exporters should also be given additional 90 days for submission of bill of entry and EXP reporting. The BGMEA also sought Tk 5 for each US dollar of retention value during April, 2020 to December 2020 to keep the local exporters competitive with its global competitors. The government will require around Tk 3,000 crore for the purpose, it said. Rubana in the letter sent on March 15 sought steps of prime minister’s principal secretary to consider the proposals to keep the sector vibrant and ensure livelihoods of millions of workers in the sector. She said that global buyers had been cancelling their export orders or delaying ongoing shipments and reducing the volume of future orders as the impact of the epidemic. The situation is severely affecting Bangladesh export which has declined by 25.90 per cent so far in the current fiscal year 2020 compared with that in the same period of the last FY2019, she said. Bangladesh Trade Union Centre general secretary Wajed-ul Islam Khan, however, told New Age that it was not rational to seek such facilities before assessment of actual damages due to the coronavirus outbreak. ‘The trade body can demand incentives from the government but it cannot seek interest-free loans for workers’ wages as it is taxpayers’ money,’ he said. He said that garment owners had been doing business for so many years and making profits. ‘Where have all the profits gone as they cannot handle a problem developed only a few days?’ he questioned.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Friday backtracked on its earlier stance on the closure of factories to prevent the spread of coronavirus as the announcement resulted in a dispute among the readymade garment factory owners. BGMEA president Rubana Huq on Friday issued a clarification over her previous announcement of closing factories and now allowed production in the factories which have export orders and who are producing products to protect coronavirus including personal protection equipment, masks, hand wash and medicine. Rubana on Thursday recommended that all the BGMEA members should announce the closure of their factories in line with the government’s announcement of public holiday to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The announcement made division among the factory owners and a section of RMG exporters alleged that many of companies who were producing export orders for global buyers and making PPEs for the country to prevent coronavirus outbreak, industry people said. The RMG exporters, who opposed the BGMEA president’s decision, also discussed the issue with the government and sought direction so that factories could run their production to complete the existing export orders and produce PPEs, said industry insiders. Against such backdrop, the BGMEA president on Friday announced that the factories, who have global export orders and who are producing PPEs, masks, hand wash and medicine, could be run with adequate precautionary measures for the workers’ health. The division among the RMG exporters also prompted the government to issue a notification saying that the factory owners who had export orders and who were producing PPEs, masks, hand sanitisers and medicine to prevent coronavirus, could run their factories with ensuring workers’ health safety. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments in its notification said that the prime minister in her address to the nation on March 25 announced incentive Tk 5,000 crore for the payment of wages to the workers of export oriented sectors and directed to ensure health protection of the workers. The department said that there was no direction in the prime minister’s speech to close down factories. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association president AKM Salim Osman on Friday issued a special direction to its members to keep all knit factories closed until April 4 to prevent coronavirus outbreak and to save people.  Country’s earnings from readymade garment exports stood at $34.13 billion in the financial year 2018-19, which was nearly 83 per cent of the country’s total export earnings. More than 40 lakh workers work in nearly 4,500 export-oriented readymade garment factories across the country.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday said its members can consider shutting factories to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. However, if a factory management decides to run the factory it will have to follow the highest hygiene and safety measures such that the workers are safe, said the board of the apparel makers’ platform. The decision was taken at a board meeting of the BGMEA in Dhaka chaired by Rubana Huq, president of the association, yesterday. The decision from the BGMEA came a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a Tk 5,000-crore stimulus package for the export-oriented sector to brave the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Garment shipments account for more than 80 per cent of the national exports of Bangladesh and the sector employs more than 40 lakh workers.  The prime minister has given specific directives and called for taking some measures to ensure protection and good health, said Huq in the meeting. Under these circumstances, those who are in a position to announce general holiday for workers, they can do so. Those who think that they would keep factories open, they have to do so by ensuring the highest precautionary measures. “From a humanitarian point of view, as the largest industry we should follow the prime minister and set an example. Hopefully, you will consider announcing general holiday.” Factories will remain closed as long as the general holidays of the government continue, she said. All government and private offices except those involved in emergency services such as law enforcement agencies and hospitals, will be closed from March 26 to April 4 to prevent the promulgation of coronavirus.

The garment factories have been in operation amid the coronavirus fear since Bangladesh reported the maiden cases of infections on March 8. Since then, the virus has sickened 44 people and led to the death of five, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). However, factories that plan to make personal protective gear (PPE), an item crucial to fight coronavirus, can remain open, according to Huq. Some factories have already started making PPE. The stimulus package from the government came as the amount of losses in the garment and leather and leather goods sectors continues to swell since international retailers are cancelling or putting on hold orders every day. Many western retailers have already shut down their stores in their respective countries because of the collapse in demand. The closing of stores in Europe and the US badly impacted Bangladesh’s apparel and leather goods export. As of 5.00pm yesterday, $2.67 billion worth of garment export orders were cancelled by international retailers, according to data compiled by the BGMEA. Some 959 garment factories reported a loss of 826.42 million units of work orders. The cancellation will affect 1.95 million workers in woven, knitwear, denim, sweater, accessories, spinning, weaving and other related businesses. The entire apparel industry of Bangladesh has been hit hard due to the global outbreak of coronavirus and apparel brands responded to it by cancelling or deferring orders, said Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert, a leading denim exporter. It is, however, too early to comment on whether an individual country would lose competitiveness or not, according to the entrepreneur. “It will depend on how well countries tackle the challenge and what measures they take.” Due to COVID-19 fears, the 12th edition of the Bangladesh Denim Expo, which was scheduled to be held on April 6 and 7, has been postponed. Bangladesh is a major supplier of sweater products to the world and exports approximately $3.5 billion worth of items annually. Over the last 30 years, Bangladesh has grown into a sweater hub as many entrepreneurs invested heavily, said Mostafa Sobhan Rubel, managing director of Dragon Group, a local sweater exporter. “The outbreak has started to impact the sweater segment badly.” As almost 80 per cent of manmade sweater yarns are imported from China the lockdown in the world’s second-largest economy has slowed the supply chain, Rubel said. “Now with the spread of the virus globally, Bangladesh’s sweater exporters are now in a dilemma.” For the sweater factories, the period of November to February is off-season and they run at less than 50 per cent of their installed capacity. Peak season starts from March and run through October. “Just as we were approaching the peak season with huge orders booked until and July, the virus struck the entire world where our sweaters are exported,” Rubel said. Due to the global shutdown, some buyers are asking Bangladesh’s sweater-makers to keep the goods on hold and some are even cancelling orders, he said. The leather and leather goods export has also been affected. “We are running at only 30 per cent of our capacity due to coronavirus,” said Saiful Islam, president of the Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturer & Exporter’s Association of Bangladesh. So far, the amount of work order cancellations in the leather goods and footwear industries stands at $316 million, he said. The Bangladesh Tanners Association has announced closure of all 154 tanneries from Thursday until April 4, according to Shakawat Ullah, general secretary of the association.

Local production of personal protective equipment (PPE) gained momentum yesterday after a joint initiative got approval from the government about the design and fabrics in a development that would boost morale of the health professionals fighting the coronavirus. Five garment factories yesterday started producing the PPE under a joint initiative of Pay It Forward, the Manush Manusher Jonno Foundation, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), British retail giant Marks & Spencer, the Arunachal Trust, and the Buet Alumni Association. The initiative got an approval from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to make the PPE, Navidul Huq, a coordinator of the initiative from the BGMEA, said. “We are hopeful that we can start distribution of the PPE to hospitals for doctors and nurses from Saturday. We will also distribute the items to other organisations and individuals gradually,” said Mohammad Wahid Hossain, executive chairman of Pay It Forward. “Initially, we will produce 50,000 pieces. We will distribute all of them free of cost,” he told The Daily Star by phone. The initiative plans to produce at least five lakh pieces of PPE. The five factories are: Urmi Group, Snowtex, Aman Group, Dekko Group and Smartex Group. Urmi Group said it would not make any profit from making the PPE because people need the safety gears urgently. It will only take fabric charge as it will have to buy the raw materials, said its Managing Director Asif Ashraf. Snowtex, another leading garment exporter, said it started manufacturing PPE yesterday. “I will produce 50,000 pieces initially,” said SM Khaled, managing director of the company.  “Of the quantity, I will distribute 17,000 pieces free of cost,” he said, adding that he would not make any profit from making the PPE. There is a lot of work orders from companies and organisations to make the PPE. Banks and hospitals have already placed orders with Snowtex, said Khaled. The production cost is around Tk 600 per PPE, Huq said, adding that a team from the BGMEA is coordinating the production and distribution of the PPE. From next week, at least eight more factories will join the effort in producing PPE, according to Huq. 96.In Chattogram, Smart Jacket (BD) Ltd, a manufacturer in the Chattogram Export Processing Zone, is making one lakh sets of surgical jackets for doctors to combat the coronavirus after receiving orders from the health ministry. The company, a concern of Smart Group of Industries, had ready items of 50,000 sets of surgical jackets in its stock and it delivered the items to the government on Tuesday afternoon. Another 20,000 sets of jackets, produced by the company’s 2,000 workers within a day, were sent to Dhaka through three trucks yesterday, officials said. “We regularly manufacture surgical jackets for an American buyer. The health ministry on Monday asked us to produce one lakh sets and after receiving the order, we delivered 50,000 sets,” Mujibur Rahman, a director of the company, told The Daily Star. “Our workers are very happy to be able to contribute to the nation in this crucial moment,” he said, adding that factory workers are also interested to work even two shifts if needed. Shahana Khatun, a worker of the factory, said, “We have so far worked for foreign buyers and this will benefit our country indirectly. Now, it seems like I’m working for my country and it will probably save thousands of people from coronavirus. It’s a different feeling.” The health ministry has asked Smart Jacket (BD) to make as many jackets as possible, Rahman said. “We are not concerned about the profit for this consignment since it is an urgent need for the country,” he said, adding that the health ministry assured it of bearing the manufacturing cost. As of Monday, there were around 2 lakh PPEs in stock and the consignment of another 2 lakh PPEs, procured from different countries, would arrive this month, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque. The ministry is distributing 20,000 to 30,000 PPEs a day to hospitals across the countries. As the number of people dying from the deadly virus rose, the government has taken measures to prepare the country’s health professionals to tackle it. The National Board of Revenue has withdrawn all forms of import duties and taxes to encourage quick import of PPEs, raw materials used in hand sanitisers, coronavirus testing kits and re-agents. Health workers need PPEs because if they don’t wear the gears they are at increased risk of getting infected by the virus and spreading it to other patients. Health workers’ demand for PPE rose sharply after the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in the country. Many public hospitals across the country set up isolation units for possible coronavirus patients but they had a dearth of necessary resources and equipment. As a result, doctors, nurses and hospital staffers were finding it hard to keep working, experts say.