Tk 10,000cr incentive for SMEs awaits final nod
The government is due to announce a Tk 10,000 crore incentive package already approved by the finance ministry to save small and micro enterprises (SMEs).
"The beneficiaries will get the incentive package at 4 per cent rate directly from microfinance institutions," said Md Ashadul Islam, senior secretary to the Financial Institutions Division, yesterday.
"Now the proposal for the package will be tabled before the cabinet as soon as possible and it would be forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office for approval," he said.
He was addressing a webinar on "Role of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) during the pandemic of Covid 19", organised by the PKSF, which was founded by the government to finance rural development and provide training. According to him, banks could not reach the government's first incentive package to most of the entrepreneurs of micro and small firms as the state-run SME Foundation had no database on the informal sector.
"We have to save the micro and small enterprises which provide supplies to the big enterprises. If we are not able to bring them under the incentive package, they will not be able to survive," he said.
The PKSF's associate organisations distributed around Tk 27,500 crore in rural areas during the July-December period of 2020 to keep the rural economy vibrant, according to a PKSF press statement.
"The PKSF continued its activities during the pandemic of Covid-19 for the recovery of the rural economy and welfare of marginalised people," the statement said.
The PKSF distributed Tk 2,200 crore among rural people during the last six months and handed over Tk 4 crore to the prime minister's relief fund.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud as chief guest addressed the event, which was presided by PKSF Chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad and attended by, among others, Managing Director Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah and Deputy Managing Director (Operations) Fazlul Kader.
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