Probashi Kallyan Bank gets final tranche of stimulus package worth Tk250cr
Asif Showkat Kallol || BusinessInsider
Workers come home amid Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The file photo of Shah Jalal International Airport was taken by UNB.
The government has disbursed its last installment of Covid-19 stimulus package worth Tk 250 crore to the borrower-starved Probashi Kallyan Bank to provide loans to Bangladeshi migrants who lost jobs amid coronavirus pandemic and came home back.
The finance ministry on Sunday issued a letter to the Probashi Kallyan Bank conveying the disbursement of Covid-19 stimulus package mainly for the Bangladeshi migrants.
An official said the bank appears to have made lackluster efforts in distributing the first installment worth Tk 250 crore of the incentive bundle announced by the government. But after the ease of lockdown, people started availing credits from the Probashi Kallyan Bank, he added.
It is then the finance ministry disbursed the rest of Tk 250 crore in favour of the bank.
Probashi Kallyan Bank is now distributing loans at 4% to 5 % interest among the returned-home migrants.
According to the Expatriate Welfare Desk, a total of 1,11,111 workers have got home from April 1 to September 6 in 2021. Many of them have returned at the end of their job tenure or due to lack of work amid Covid-19.
The expatriate ministry also estimated that in 2020, some 60,000 workers have gone abroad from Bangladesh every month. From January to August in 2019, some 4.60 lakh workers went to their respective host countries. But by August 2020, only 1.76 lakh workers have joined their works abroad. This is because from April to August this year, no worker could go abroad.
“We have disbursed all of the first installment among more than 11,000 beneficiaries. The distribution was delayed due to the manpower crisis and prevalence of coronavirus across the country,” said Dr. Ahmed Munirush Salehin, Chairman of Probashi Kallyan Bank.
In the budget of FY 2020-21, Probashi Kallyan Bank, Karmasangsthan Bank, Palli Sanchay Bank and Bangladesh Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PFSF) have been instrumental in creating employment for the marginalised, unemployed and rural poor by providing loans.
The finance ministry allocated a total of Tk 2,000 crore to the four financial institutions, each receiving Tk 500 crore, respectively.
