The second wave has not spared them either.
But the stimulus packages that were unveiled last year with a promise to help SMEs, farmers, and lower-income professionals make a turnaround have not seen their desired results.
One year passed since the announcement of the packages in April last year, but banks are still reluctant to give out much-needed loans to them under the taxpayer-backed funds.
Banks, however, have shown generosity in extending loans to the large borrowers under the stimulus package of large industrial and service sectors amounting to Tk 40,000 crore.
Experts say banks should take necessary measures in the quickest possible time to cater the credit support to small businesses and farmers as the severity of the second wave will be deeper than the first one.
Small businesses left alone amid pandemic thedailystar.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailystar.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Forex reserves may come under stress without quality lending
Experts say projects financed by reserves should be monitored properly
The country s ballooning foreign exchange reserves may come under stress if the infrastructure projects to be bankrolled by the excess external capital are not monitored properly, experts warn.
They expressed the fears after the government formed the Bangladesh Infrastructure Development Fund (BIDF) on March 15 to lend money from the reserves.
The government decided to disburse Tk 5,417 crore (525 million Euros) in foreign currency loans to dredge a channel for Payra Port, a seaport in Kalapara, Patuakhali.
A tripartite loan agreement was signed between the finance division, the Payra Port Authority and state-run Sonali Bank to finance the project.
Banks swept under the rug Tk 12,140 crore in defaulted loans in the nine months to September last year by rescheduling and writing those off. Had such instruments not been used, the banking industry's defaulted loans would have shown up to be much higher. Non-performing loans (NPLs) stood at Tk 88,734 crore as of December, down 5.93 per cent year-on-year, showed data from
At least 66,622 people would fall below the poverty line due to the decline in exports following Bangladesh's graduation to a developing nation from the group of least-developed countries, according to a government analysis. The number of poor is likely to increase from 24.09 million to 24.16 million, according to the "Impact Assessment and Coping up Strategies of Graduation