We acted fast to shield the vulnerable
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Covid-19 pandemic could not impact Bangladesh as hard as it did in other countries due to prompt action to protect both the most vulnerable people and businesses.
"Bangladesh could have fallen prey to Covid-19, but we acted fast to protect both our most vulnerable people and businesses. As a result, the pandemic didn't hit Bangladesh as hard as other countries. We're emerging from the pandemic in a good position to continue the economic resurgence that began a decade ago," she wrote in her commentary published in New York-based multinational business magazine -- Fortune -- on Monday.
The PM wrote, "Our approach to fighting Covid-19 was to balance lives and livelihoods, focusing on the needs of people first and then assisting the businesses that employed them."
At the very start of the pandemic last year, the government offered relief to the ultra-poor, the disabled, seniors, returnee migrant workers, and impoverished women, she wrote.
"We quickly distributed cash and other types of assistance to 40 million people, a quarter of the population. This came in the form of 28 separate stimulus programmes totalling $22.1 billion -- nearly 6.2 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We spent billions of additional dollars on vaccines and other emergency measures," she added.
"People continue to be at the heart of everything we do, whatever the Omicron variant brings," she noted, adding that the government instituted a 'No One Will Go Hungry' policy that provided rice, baby food, and cash to 16.8 million families.
"We targeted payments to the aged, the disabled, and deserted and destitute women. We expanded a programme inaugurated prior to the pandemic to build houses for the homeless to commemorate the centenary of the birth of my father -- the founding father of the nation and its first president -- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The programme contributed immensely to our fight against the disease," Hasina wrote.
She mentioned the government also prioritised assisting small businesses and their employees. The government offered low-interest loans to small-business entrepreneurs, especially women and farmers. The government loans on favourable terms were also used to pay workers in the tourism and hospitality industries that were ravaged by lockdowns, Hasina added.
The PM said larger businesses also received assistance: several rounds of multi-billion-dollar payments went to employees of export-oriented companies, such as those in the vital garment-making industry.
"A working-capital loan facility was established to keep both big manufacturers and rapidly growing service firms, including information technology companies, in operation. Interest payments on these loans were split between the borrowers and the government. Interest payments on all commercial loans, in fact, were suspended for two months last year and then spread out over the next 12 months to ease the financial burden on employers," she wrote.
Like other nations, Bangladesh instituted social distancing edicts, mandated the wearing of face masks, and enforced a 66-day closure from late March to early June last year, Hasina mentioned.
She wrote that industrial production fell. Small and medium-sized businesses were shuttered. Global lockdowns reduced demand and rocked Bangladesh's economy.
"However, we never lost faith in ourselves and continued to invest in our people. We set up testing facilities. We did contact tracing. We installed isolation facilities in hospitals across the country. We also recruited 6,200 doctors, 10,000 nurses, and 3,000 other key medical personnel. In the end, thanks in part to years of investments at the local level, our healthcare system was resilient despite the terrible strain," Hasina said.
The PM said the combination of new initiatives and past investments has saved countless lives and allowed the economy to weather the storm. GDP growth has increased roughly by two percentage points since November last year. Bangladesh is now among the five fastest-growing economies in the world. Over the past 10 years, Bangladesh has reduced its poverty rate from 31.5 percent to 20.5 percent, she wrote.
"Our per capita income has trebled in a single decade to $2,227 in fiscal 2021, which is higher than our neighbours -- India and Pakistan. Our foreign currency reserves have reached an all-time high of $48 billion," the PM added.
"Indeed, our relentless attention to helping the people who needed help the most clearly has paid major dividends. We are especially proud that the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks Bangladesh seventh in political empowerment of women, outpacing our regional neighbours since 2014. Our infant mortality rate has been reduced to 23.67 per 1,000. The maternal mortality rate has fallen to 173 per 100,000 live births. Bangladeshis' average longevity has risen to 73 years," Hasina noted.
She wrote that Bangladesh has also become a world leader in digital adoption and expertise. "Our 'Digital Bangladesh' initiative has transformed and diversified the economy. It made combatting Covid-19 easier than it would have otherwise been. Average Bangladeshis now rely on their smartphones. As a result, they are kept informed minute-by-minute about pandemic developments."
The premier mentioned that Bangladesh has travelled a long way from being one of the poorest nations when it was founded in 1971 to achieving lower-middle-income-country status this year. "We're on the track to graduate from the United Nations' list of least developed countries by 2026. All of this is still possible despite the worst pandemic in a hundred years. Investing in people made all the difference."
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