Staff Reporter :
Around 90 percent of garment owners have paid May salaries to their workers, and 85 percent of employees in the sector have received bonuses for Eid-ul-Adha by Friday evening, according to the Industrial Police.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) expressed hope that the remaining factory owners would pay salaries and bonuses on the last working day (Saturday).
“Most of the member factories have cleared the salary of May and bonus for Eid-ul-Adha to their workers, and the rest of the factories will pay on the last working day,” said SM Mannan Kochi, President of the BGMEA.
He further noted that a large number of garment factories have managed to pay salaries and bonuses due to strict monitoring by the BGMEA, despite acute financial problems.
Earlier, RMG exporters sent a letter to Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, seeking the full payment of Tk 6,500 crore worth of cash incentives previously declared by the government against the FY24 export income.
However, the factory owners only received Tk 2,000 crore in May 2024, leaving a due amount of Tk 4,500 crore.
In the letter, the BGMEA and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) warned of a deep crisis in the garment industry due to a confluence of factors: the post-pandemic economic slump, rising geopolitical tensions, and high inflation fueled by the Russia-Ukraine and Palestine-Israel wars.
These factors are negatively impacting the global apparel market, with ripple effects on Bangladesh’s economy.
“In this situation, businesses are facing financial crises, and we requested the government to disburse the incentive amount so that we can pay the workers’ wages before Eid,” the letter reads. Mohammad Hatem said, “The government has given us a partial payment of the cash incentive. But it will not fulfil our needs.”