Bangladeshi companies producing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), diagnostic equipment, and clinical equipment, for domestic and foreign markets can borrow from the A $7.5 million fund monetised by the World Bank. The fund has been launched to help Bangladeshi companies producing medical and personal protective equipment (MPPE) to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
This Covid-19 Enterprise Response Fund (CERF) will provide loans ranging from $50,000 to $5 lakh as part of the Export Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J) Project. The term of the fund is from April this year to December 2022. The Export Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J) Project is project under the commerce ministry. It is a six-year project aimed at supporting the government’s export diversification targets.
Companies that manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), diagnostic equipment and clinical equipment for export and for local markets–also have three years of experience–can have the loans from this fund. They have to maintain environmental protection rules.
“The fund would play a role in advancing the production of health safety materials as well as help in diversifying exports, which would increase employment,” said Mercy Miyang Tembon, country director of the World Bank for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
However, noting that Bangladesh is not worried about such concerns, he said his ministry is focusing on the diversification of export products and markets to meet the challenge.
