Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday announced a Tk 5000 crore special subsidized loan package for boosting agricultural production in the country in the aftermath of the Corona crisis hitting the world.

In a video conference with officials from her official residence in Dhaka, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the refinancing scheme of Tk. 5000 crore will carry a maximum interest rate of 5 percent. She said that the small and medium farmers will get the loan from this fund to use as current capital for use in agriculture and related activities like fishery, poultry farming etc.

She also announced an additional Taka 9000 crore for fertilizer subsidy in the next budget to minimize the impact of Corona pandemic on agriculture in Bangladesh.

Earlier on April 5, the government of Bangladesh had announced a subsidized loan package of Tk 72,750 crore for various other sectors in the economy including Tk 5000 crore for the payment of salaries and wages to the workers in the Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector.

World Bank in its latest regional update for South Asia released on Sunday has forecast a sharp decline in the GDP growth rate of Bangladesh from more than 8 percent to a low of 2.0 to 3.0 percent. The report says that the South Asian region will witness its worst performance in the last 40 years.