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July 11, 2021 NEWSLETTER |
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Bangladesh to ramp up mass inoculation with arrival of 15 million doses of Covid vaccine in August In addition to the recent arrival of 4.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, a total of a whopping 15 million vaccines of Pfizer, Sinopharm and Seram will arrive in the country in August, thanks to the prudent leadership of Honourable Prime Minister (HPM) Sheikh Haasina in bringing these vaccines to the country in time. Of the 15 million, as many as 6 million doses of Pfizer vaccine will be sent to Bangladesh in early August while India and China would send the rest. Thanks to the early arrival of as many as 10 million doses of vaccine, made by the Serum Institute of India, Bangladesh rolled out its largest vaccination campaign, since February, marking significant gains having over 5 million people including the front-liners already vaccinated. |
On the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, the Awami League led government, at the directives of HPM Sheikh Hasina, pledged to provide 10 kilogrammes of free rice to more than 10 million extremely poor and helpless families under the VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) programme. This assistance would be given to the poor and extremely poor person or family affected by the recent floods or other natural calamities while a total of 1,76,000.51 tonnes of VGF rice was allocated for 492 upazilas and 328 municipalities under 64 districts. Meanwhile, under another initiative devised by HPM Sheikh Hasina, as many as 25 million people, hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, have been provided with various allowances to help them turn around their lives braving the pandemic induced shutdown. |
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Help achieve green recovery of CVF-V20 countries: HPM Sheikh Hasina tells world leaders 
HPM Sheikh Hasina placed a five-point proposal, including the green recovery of climate vulnerable countries with support from the developed nations, as climate change has brought them to a threshold. “Developed nations should facilitate the green recovery of the CVF-V20 countries. Dedicated support is required for reducing the cost of capital and encouraging private sector participation,” she said while placing her proposals in the first V20 Climate Vulnerable Finance Summit last week. The Bangladesh premier, also the president of Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), inaugurated the Summit organized by Finance Ministers of the Vulnerable Twenty (V-20), joining it virtually from her official residence in Dhaka. Turning to Bangladesh, she said Bangladesh is ranked 7th amongst the worst victims of climate change, according to the Climate Risk Index 2020. |
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Bangladesh to introduce 1,000-bed Covid hospital, recruitment of 8500 more nurses soon 
As part of government’s measures to bolster treatment facilities for Covid patients, a plan has been laid out to turn the Convention Centre of a hospital into a 1,000-bed field hospital soon. Real and measureable progress has been made to set up 400 intensive care units (ICU) and 400 beds in the high dependency unit (HDU). In a separate development, necessary arrangements have been made to employ 8,534 nurses across the country soon to enhance services in the medical sector. Moreover, the Cabinet Division said that the ongoing restrictions will remain effective until July 14 midnight. Earlier on June 30, the Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification imposing a number of restrictions as part of the lockdown measure from July 1 to July 7. |
With the major economies recovering from the Covid-19 fallouts, Bangladesh's RMG exports bounced back strongly as the shipment of the prime export item is on the rise to the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) markets. Apparel export to the US, the single largest export destination of Bangladesh clothes, witnessed a double digit growth during the first five-months of 2021 against the volume and value of the same period of the last year (2020). During the period from January to May, 2021 apparel exports to the US grew by 15.38 per cent to US$ 2.58 billion, according to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), an affiliate of the US Department of Commerce. |
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Full swing progress in construction work of new terminal in Dhaka airport 
The construction work of the third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) is progressing fast amid the coronavirus pandemic with the authorities lending out optimism in completion of the work ahead of the schedule. In this terminal of 5,42,000 square meters, aprons (place to park planes) have been made to hold 37 planes at a time and the terminal building, sprawling over 2,30,000 square meters, will bear the touches of all the significant and sophisticated technologies of the world. A rapid exit and connecting taxiway to be built to enter the airport while a subway would connect the Dhaka Elevated Expressway with the airport. |
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Bangladesh 2nd largest supplier of online workforce 
Bangladesh is now the world’s second-largest supplier of online labour force after India and makes up 16 per cent of the global digital workforce, according to a new study, unveiled by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). Currently, there are 2,000 website-based entrepreneurs and up to 50,000 Facebook-centric entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. In addition to adequate government supports, since 2009, under the Digital Bangladesh initiative an electoral manifesto put in place by HPM Sheikh Hasina, rapid growth in internet connectivity as well as some supporting measures for digital entrepreneurs attributed to this success. While the Covid-19 pandemic has also expanded employment opportunities with some 100,000 jobs in the e-commerce industry, around 500,000 new jobs are likely to be created through digital platforms in the next one year. |
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Remittance inflows hit record $24.77bn in FY21 
Remittance inflows hit a record high of $24.77 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year 2020-21, thanks to the expatriate Bangladeshis for sending money amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The inflow of remittances shows hit a record high in the current fiscal 2020-21 as the BB has taken measures to streamline the legal channels for encouraging Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to send money to the country, according to media reports. In FY21, six state-owned commercial banks – Agrani, Janata, Rupali, Sonali, Basic and BDBL – received $6.11 billion while one state-owned specialized bank- Bangladesh Krishi Bank- received $0.41 billion. |
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BANGLADESH AWAMI LEAGUE |
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