As part of the 2020 Annual Staff Visit programme, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Bangladesh Team held a virtual discussion with InM on 06 December 2020. The joint discussion was attended by InM, PKSF and SME Foundation, From InM, Executive Director Dr. Mustafa K. Mujeri and Dr. Farhana Nargis, Research Fellow attended the meeting; while Mr. Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Managing Director, Mr. Md. Fazlul Kader, Deputy Managing Director, and Dr. A.K.M. Nuruzzaman, General Manager attended on behalf of PKSF and Dr. Md. Masudur Rahman, Chairperson, Mr. Md. Safiqul Islam, Managing Director, Mr. Md. Sirajul Haider NDC, General Manager and Ms. Farzana Khan, General Manager attended for the SME Foundation. From the IMF side, among others, Dr. Jayendu De, Resident Representative in Dhaka attended the discussion meeting.
The discussion covered major development issues facing the country especially focusing on Bangladesh’s informal sector and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. The discussions reviewed the microfinance revolution, current trends and impact of Covid-19 in Bangladesh. More specifically, the discussions highlighted the impact of Covid-19 on employment, income, and food security; stimulus packages and implications on informal sector including corona-cash programme, expansion of social safety nets, CMSMEs working capital loans including the implementation constraints and need for scaling up; causes and consequences of high persistence of informal sector activities; strategies and policies towards encouraging formalisation of the informal economy; and slow pace of job growth in the country’s manufacturing sector.
