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500-mln-dlr stimulus package:
Bangladesh to ease economic meltdown
BANGLADESH: Bang- ladesh will pump an extra 500 million dollars into
the economy over the next 10 weeks to help the country weather the
global economic meltdown, its finance minister said Sunday.
“To face the challenges of the global economic recession, the
Bangladeshi government has prepared a 3,424-crore-taka
(500-million-dollar) stimulus package to stimulate the country’s
economy,” finance minister A.M.A. Muhith told reporters.
About half the money will be used in the country’s agricultural
sector, a finance ministry statement said, adding that 65 million
dollars would be directed to help boost exports.
More financial help would be included in the budget for the next
financial year, to be announced in June, the ministry statement said.
“The money is an emergency response that has been allocated until the
end of the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2009 to stimulate
the economy immediately,” finance secretary Mohammad Tareque told AFP.
The government package is less than the 877 million dollars industry
leaders said last month was needed immediately for the export sector
alone. Clothing manufacture underpins Bangladesh’s industrial activity,
accounting for 80 percent of overseas sales and pulling in 11 billion
dollars a year.
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president
Annisul Huq said the package appeared to fall short of the amount needed
to prop the export-reliant economy up.
Dhaka, Mondqay, AFP |
