Ceramic makers seek low-cost funds
The country's ceramic manufacturers contain demanded low-cost funds on easy conditions for payment of their workers' salaries, allowances and Eid bonuses.
"We need low-cost funds to pay salaries for May, June, July and August along with festival allowances of our employees," said said Md Shirajul Islam Mollah, president of the Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA).
The trade body made the call within their budget proposals that it paid to the finance ministry on April 28.
Businesses have so far invested Tk 9,000 crore in the sector, which directly employs 50,000 employees and indirectly over 500,000.
The united states has 68 ceramic factories that made export and import-alternative products, including tableware, tiles and sanitary ware, worth around Tk 6,000 crore in 2019.
Ceramic sector earns over Tk 400 crore worth of forex a year by exporting ceramic products to a lot more than 50 countries.
"The neighborhood companies meet 90 per cent of the country's demand for ceramic products," said the BCMEA president. The sector was doing superb, however the Covid-19 outbreak spoiled the growth momentum, he explained.
The next wave of the deadly coronavirus wreaked havoc on the sector, the association said.
Ceramic factories are actually running on a restricted scale with shortened manpower maintaining health insurance and hygiene rules, it reported.
"In this situation, revenue have slowed to an excellent extent, rendering it difficult to distinct payments of workers' salaries and allowances."
Moreover, factory owners are also failing woefully to clear bank loan instalments on a regular basis, it added.
There is a large amount of pressure on the industry owners to pay the salaries, allowances and bonuses of the staff and employees for the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, said Irfan Uddin.
For the survival of the neighborhood ceramic industry, Bangladesh Bank should provide loans on easy terms as economic incentives, he said.
Tk 85 crore is paid due to monthly salaries among the employees of ceramic factories. The volume of allowance is needed to get added with it," stated Irfan Uddin, general secretary of the BCMEA.
The federal government should ensure loans for the ceramic makers at 2 % interest for the next four months, he said.
The association demanded waiver of interest on loans given by banks and financial institutions and payment deferral for another one year.
It further sought postponement of payments for electricity, gas and water bills of most ceramic factories for another twelve months and demanded uninterrupted utility connection through the period.
