Leaders of the country’s largest chamber, DCCI and printing sector leaders on Thursday observed that the country’s Tk 4000 crore printing and publishing sector has been facing a tremendous set back due to the Covid-19 impacts.
They sought support from the government for the survival of the rising and highly potential printing industry, while exchanging views in a webinar .
The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) organized a webinar on “Covid -19 Outbreak & Bangladesh's Publishing Industry: Crisis & Way Forward” . Stakeholders of this sector participated in the discussion.
DCCI President Shams Mahmud moderated the discussion while M A Momen, former President, DCCI joined the webinar as guest of honour.
Shams Mahmud, President, DCCI said cash flow in businesses is a big problem now. We need to identify different sub-sectoral losses caused due to covid pandemic, he informed. The government has done a great job by announcing a stimulus package of 20 thousand crore taka for SMEs. But the MSMEs who have not regular dealings with the banks are being deprived of that loan facility under stimulus.
“We need to figure it out that where is the bottleneck and how can MSMEs be benefitted by this package. At this stage, disbursement from taka 20 crore stimulus package has not reached to the expected level.
Regarding printing and publishing industry” he said suggesting an updated policy framework, reforming duty structure, technology adaptation, enhancing training facility and easy access to finance.
M A Momen, former President, DCCI said printing and publishing business is a challenging business. Bangladesh’s capacity in printing and publishing sector is increasing day by day, he said.
But the sector is seriously affected by covid 19 pandemic. 12 thousand crore taka turn over in this sector is now in dire state, he mentioned. The main challenge is now to survive, he said.
Mohammad Bashiruddin, Vice President, DCCI said due to closure of educational institutions, normal demand of printing materials have declined drastically. In this situation, incentive is needed for the survival of micro entrepreneurs.
Farid Ahmed, President, Academic and Creative publishers Association of Bangladesh said, to recover the printing and publishing sector out of covid 19 crisis, we need to conduct a comprehensive research to find out the actual loss in this sector occurred due to covid 19.
Shahid Serniabad, President of Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh said about 35 crore academic books published by the local printers were delivered to the students by early January.
But the printing sector of Bangladesh is well capable of printing 100 crores of academic books in a year. About 5 Lakh people are directly dependent on this sector for their livelihood, he said.
Md. Shafiqul Islam Bhorosha, President, Bangladesh Paper Importers Association also echoed to rational distribution of stimulus package. He said, the market demand has been declined and about 70% sales have been cut down due to covid situation.
Rafiqul Islam Azad, President, Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) informed that 86 newspapers out of total 254 are now in operation. The printing and publishing sector lonely accounts businesses of 3000 crore taka only in Dhaka.
Mohammad Abdul Kader Khan, President of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association said very few of MSMEs in these sectors got loan from the stimulus. He also urged government to slash duty on import of raw materials of printing and publishing items.
Bashar Patwary, President, Bangladesh Local Carton Manufacturers Association, Mohammad Belal, Secretary General of Chottogram Paper and Cellophane Association, MS Shekil Chowdhury, former Senior Vice President, Deen Mohammad, Director, Md. Shahid Hossain, Director, MS Siddiqui, Member, Md. Abdul Hamid, Convenor of DCCI also spoke on the occasion.
