PMO meets tomorrow on virus impact

The government will sit in an emergency meeting tomorrow (Monday) to assess the extent of possible losses caused to the economy by the COVID-19 pandemic and also devise a strategy to tide over it, an official said.
The meeting on "Global Outbreak of Coronavirus: Impact on Bangladesh Economy and Strategy to Overcome it" has been convened by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at 11:00 am on March 30.
"There will be a meeting at the PMO on March 30 (Monday) on the outbreak of coronavirus and its effects on the global and Bangladesh economy," a joint secretary at the Ministry of Industries (MoI) told the FE on Saturday.
He said Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Kaikaus would chair the meeting.
All the senior secretaries and secretaries of the ministries concerned would attend the meeting, he said.
The industries ministry official further said the government gave directives to all the ministries to prepare and submit their respective recommendations in the meeting.
He said they asked all the corporations under the MoI to submit their respective recommendations to the ministry that would be placed in the meeting.
He said all the corporations already submitted their reports to the MoI.
"We are preparing our (MoI) recommendations in line with the suggestions given by the corporations under the industries ministry that will be presented before the PMO in the meeting," the industries ministry official further said.
The ongoing ravaging coronavirus has led to around 84 per cent decline in the country's exports.
Besides, the backward linkage industry and other sectors are also been facing a setback due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The businessmen in the country welcomed the meeting of the PMO.
They suggested that the government form a taskforce involving the private sector.
"We welcome the meeting. We call upon the government to form a public-private taskforce so that we can deal with the matter jointly," former president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Asif Ibrahim told the FE on Saturday.
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