Sohel Parvez

Perhaps Bangladesh has the highest number of people out of jobs thanks to the protracted shutdown that has taken away income opportunities for tens of thousands of people, particularly in the informal sector. Or, perhaps not.

People employed in the informal sector get little attention from the policymakers although they account for 85 per cent of the country’s total employed population of 6.08 crore and keep the wheel of the economy humming.

Farmers are expected to bag a higher amount of boro paddy this harvesting season thanks to favourable weather and low pest infestation, a development that may offer some breathing room to the nation now reeling under coronavirus-induced uncertainty.

The government is working to develop a database of nearly 1.25 crore beneficiary families to ensure proper distribution of food aid and plug the loopholes in the current distribution system, said officials at two ministries.

Revenue collection soared 8 per cent in the first nine months of the fiscal year, paced by the increased collection of advance corporate tax and higher receipts of indirect tax value-added tax (VAT).

Shop owners yesterday urged the commerce ministry to allow the opening of retail and wholesale stores from the first of May seeing that several garments factories were given the go-ahead to reopen.

In a moment of crisis, many reach out for comfort foods.

There has been a stunning slump in demand for meat and eggs since coronavirus arrived on these shores. And the dizzying speed at which the lethal pathogen went about upending life in the country prompted many farms, slapped by unprecedented losses, to cut back on production by more than half.

Sea fishermen have urged the government to relax the restriction on trawling in the deep waters of the Bay of Bengal to help them recoup losses in sales inflicted by the ongoing shutdown caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Farmers who have cultivated black tiger shrimp for the export markets in the hope of making profits were dealt with a massive blow by the coronavirus pandemic, which has shattered their dreams by devastating the supply chain and prompting a collapse in demand.

The revenue board yesterday directed its customs stations to facilitate clearance of all export and import consignments, moving away from its previous position to process documents for only essentials, industrial raw materials and emergency medical products.

Food insecurity among the poor and economically vulnerable population has started and the crisis will intensify by the end of this month if the government does not take any immediate steps, said a recent study.

Supermarkets are registering surging sales amid people’s quest to find a more sanitised place than kitchen markets to buy foodstuffs and household products in these times of coronavirus.

An announcement from the National Board of Revenue regarding the filing of value-added tax returns have thrown businesses into trouble.

Since April 1, Farhana Nazira is having trouble sleeping.

The rapid spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh has shattered traders’ hopes of a sales bonanza of hilsha fish marking the celebration of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla new year.

The government will purchase 50 per cent more paddy from farmers in the Boro harvesting season that begins from the latter half of this month with the view to encouraging farmers and for distribution to those who saw their livelihoods evaporate for the outbreak of coronavirus in Bangladesh.

The National Board of Revenue yesterday widened the scope to assess the duty of more imported items in order to ease the burden on the Chattogram port that is mired in container congestion.

Over a week into the stay-home order across the country, hungry and half-fed faces have started to grow in a huge number.

The government is set to bear a portion of the interest payments on working capital of small and medium enterprises that have been hit hard by the ongoing shutdown amid coronavirus scare.