Faruque Hassan, President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged the government to provide more stimulus funds to enable factories to pay three months' salaries alongside festival allowances to workers. Hassan says, workers of export-oriented garment factories receive around Tk 3,000 crore every month as salary. The amount is already estimated and only the allowance money remains to be added, Daily Star reports.

According to him, many small and medium scale garment factories, are in trouble as they are struggling to survive with lower quantity of work orders from international retailers and brands during the time of COVID-19. He urged banks to support these suppliers. Last year, the government provided Tk 10,500 crore in stimulus funds to the export-oriented garment, leather and footwear sectors for the payment of salaries and allowances at only 2 per cent service charge.

However, factory owners have been lobbying with the government for a moratorium and deferral of repayment as most of the apparel exporters could not make a comeback to normal business practices because of the second wave of COVID-19. Local apparel suppliers have been running their factories amidst challenges since March last year for a dearth of work orders from the international retailers and brands.