Commerce ministry lobbies FM, BB to back financial aids for 2 seafood plants

The commerce ministry has been lobbying the finance ministry and the central bank to secure financial stimulus for two seafood processing plants hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The plants are Jahanabad Seafoods Ltd and Jalalabad Frozen Foods Ltd owned by Jalalabad Group.

The commerce ministry’s move came after Khulna City Corporation Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque requested Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi to back the plants for getting a 30% working capital loan from Janata Bank under the coronavirus stimulus packages, according to sources at the finance ministry.

On December 15, the commerce ministry wrote to the senior finance secretary Abul Rouf Talukder and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir to take measures related to the issue.

The letter signed by senior assistant secretary Naznin Parven urged Bangladesh Bank and finance division to take steps required to provide loans to the two seafood processing plants under the financial stimulus package announced by the government to weather the coronavirus fallout.

In April, the government announced Tk 121,000 crore financial packages meant for the industries and service sector affected by the corona pandemic. Of the fund, some Tk 30,000 crore has been kept to disburse as working capital at a concessional interest rate.

Md Abdus Salam, the CEO and Managing Director of Janata Bank said, “We’ve looked into the matter to provide financial incentives to the several firms including the two plants.”

In a letter, Abdul Jabbar Mollah, the managing director of the two seafood processing plants, alleged that all state-run banks and financial institutions except Janata Bank were disbursing credits to the Covid-19 affected companies.

The Janata Bank MD said the disbursement of incentives package loan is not a separate problem of Janata Bank. “But we will solve the problem within a short time.”

The two plants suffered losses of Tk 11 crore due to the pandemic and the total working capital is Tk 21 crore. It sought Tk 7 crore in loan from the Janata Bank as per the government’s stimulus package, according to Salam.

In Khulna, Jahanabad Sea Foods Ltd was established in 1995, and Jalalabad Frozen Foods Ltd in 2006.