The Bangladesh government may consider another stimulus package for garment exporters such that they can pay workers' wages of August, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

On the eve of Bangladesh embarking on a countrywide shutdown on 26 March, the government announced a Tk 5,000-crore special package to pay the wages and allowances of export-oriented industries' workers for three months starting from April.

As the fund was later found to be inadequate, the government released another Tk 2,500 crore from the bailout package rolled out for the large industries affected by the pandemic.

Banks disbursed the amount directly to the workers' bank accounts or mobile financial service accounts. The interest-free loan carried a 2 per cent service charge.

Then on June 22, the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), whose members generate most of the export receipts, jointly wrote to Kamal seeking continuation of low-cost loans for three more months to September.

Garment factory owners are in deep worry about carrying out various activities, the future of the industry and how to pay wages to the workers, said the joint letter, which was also sent to the prime minister's principal secretary. Garment factories in Bangladesh faced order cancellations or suspensions worth more than $3 billion since the pandemic took form.

Subsequently, earnings from apparel shipments in the immediate past fiscal year fell to its lowest in a decade of $27.8 billion. The amount is 18.5 per cent lower than in fiscal 2018-19.