The readymade garment (RMG) sector has opened around 2.5 million Mobile Financial Service (MFS) accounts since April 4 in line with the government’s move to provide salaries and allowances to its workers and employees through mobile banking.
The accounts have been opened through MFS providers bKash, Rocket, and Nagad, said a media statement of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
“We have applied to Bangladesh Bank to extend the application deadline of opening MFS accounts up to May 2."
"We are trying to complete every formality. As soon as the formalities are over, we should be on track. As it is the first disbursement and huge MFS registrations are also going on, we will update when we are ready,” said the media statement, reports BSS.
Earlier, Bangladesh Bank instructed all authorities concerned to open MFS accounts for workers and employees of export-oriented industries and factories by April 20 in order to facilitate payment of salaries and allowances from the government’s financial package.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced a stimulus package of Tk5,000 crore for export-oriented industries to fight the impact of coronavirus on the country’s economy.
The stimulus package constitutes loans without interest from the central bank. However, banks can charge 2% one-time service charge for bearing administrative costs.
Export-oriented industries which export a minimum of 80 percent of their total production will be eligible for the government-announced financial stimulus fund.
The owners or management of those industries can take loans from the fund, and thus can disburse the salaries of their employees and workers for three months (April, May, and June of 2020).
The borrowers will get a six-month grace period, meaning that they will start paying back the borrowed money in installments to the government from the seventh month of receiving the money.
The loan will be fully repaid in two years in 18 installments.
If someone fails to pay a loan installment in time, the loan will be classified as per the conventional rules, and 2% interest will have to be paid on the outstanding installments.