Garment manufacturers in Bangladesh have sought extension of the current moratorium on loan repayment by six more months even as they underlined that coronavirus pandemic has hampered their revenue stream, making repayment difficult, while highlighting the need of Government support so as to tide over the pandemic-induced crisis.
Reports maintained this adding the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), have jointly sent a letter in this regard recently to the Ministry of Finance, signed by BKMEA President AKM Salim Osman and BGMEA President Faruque Hassan, wherein they requested for more time to repay their bank loans while adding repayments on time have become difficult for the entrepreneurs since businesses were yet to return to normal even as liquidity crisis has also intensified and, went on to add that entrepreneurs and the Government had hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic would subside and the readymade garment sector of the country would revive.
However, prevalence of coronavirus cases has not decreased even as the garment manufacturers were going through a tough time, the letter, reportedly, added requesting Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal to extend their repayment period until 31 December 2021, and also to keep the facility open so that if the loans are not repaid on time, they should not be declared defaulters, while underlining that liquidity crisis is also escalating due to non-receipt of timely payments from overseas buyers and continuing production with losses even as the garment makers also mentioned about rising raw material prices while maintaining that in comparison, price of apparel items has not increased, rather fallen in some cases.
