Noman Mosharef :
Bangladesh witnessed its first official casualty from the Covid-19 coronavirus on March 8, 2020. In order to prevent the transmission of coronavirus, a public holiday has been going on in Bangladesh since March 26, due to which all educational institutions, offices and courts, including schools and colleges, have been closed.
The livelihood of the working people is strained. On the other hand, there is risk of infection if they go out for the purpose.
In the meantime, low and middle income group of people – especially garment and domestic workers, rickshaw pullers and transport workers – have become unemployed.
Chitra Pereira, an English medium school teacher has been staying at home since March 18 as school has been closed.
According to the decision of the authorities, online teaching activities were started in the school from the first week of April.
But in the second week of April, authorities said it would not be possible to pay teachers and other staff full salary until educational activities become normal.
The salaries of all the teachers and staff of the school have been halved.
Ainunnahar Sultana is a lawyer. This is not his real name. She said that, the number of clients coming to his chambers has decreased since the first coronavirus patient was identified.
When the court closed on a public holiday, she herself stopped going to his chambers in Maghbazar.
“The court is closed. Proceedings are closed. So my income is closed. But I have an assistant. He takes care of me. There is a fixed monthly payment for electricity and water. The house has to be rented, there is a driver,
there is a housemaid. But I have no earnings. “
“My husband is now out of the country for higher studies. Whom do I ask for help now? I had a DPS in the bank without looking for a way, I had to redeem it. “
Nazneen Ahmed, a Senior Research Fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) thinks people are in crisis because of the coronavirus. Many people are forced to take financial risks due to health risks.
“The danger of the middle class and the lower middle class is very big. In the crisis, they will not be able to get out of the way and will not be able to reach anyone.”
He thinks that in this situation, the savings of the middle class will be affected. “It simply came to our notice then. Because, if we calculate the general tendency of people, it will be seen that first they will spend the money they have in their hands, then they will start spending from saving in the long run. ” A study by the Center for Policy Dialogue, a non-governmental organization, found that the lockdown would leave about nine million families vulnerable.
The agency says that because of this situation, those who are just above the poverty line, the lower middle class, will also fall into the poverty line because of the current situation.
However, regular savings in the bank have declined. The rate of new investment is also decreasing.
At the same time, people interested in the banking sector are saying that the interest of the people in any new savings project has decreased. Mohammad Shams-ul Islam, Managing Director and CEO of state-owned Agrani Bank Limited, thinks the lockdown situation has reduced people’s savings across the country.
“Saving has decreased because people’s income has decreased. The effect of this is more evident in the savings of the depositors who run small savings schemes here. Besides, the rate of buying savings certificates from banks has also come down in the last one and a half months, especially for those who used to buy low-cost savings certificates. “
