Women have become more vulnerable in the current Covid-19 pandemic, and it is crucial that 2020-2021 budgetary allocation reflects the consequences of the pandemic on women, said speakers at a pre-budget webinar yesterday. Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) organised the event. Maleka Banu, general secretary of BMP, said the pandemic has further increased the inequality between
Financial plight grows for poor, unemployed thedailystar.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailystar.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (known as the LMITO or “lamington”) has been given yet another new lease of life.
What started in 2018 as a stop-gap until broader tax cuts were introduced, was extended because of COVID after the tax cuts were introduced in the 2020 budget and has now been extended again in 2021 to assist with the COVID recovery.
Which is odd, because, being a delayed payment (it is only paid out as tax refunds after the end of each financial year), it offers anything but real-time support.
And despite its name, it isn’t offered to Australians on very low incomes.
The government could not spend two-thirds of its around Tk 25,000 crore cash-food support packages for the poor and vulnerable, frontline health workers and low-income farmers in the last year after its announcement.
During this period, 2.94 crore people and families have received financial aid and food assistance, according to a latest progress report by the Prime Minister s Office on the stimulus package prepared.
But, various studies of non-government organisations revealed, a large number of poor and marginalised people, hard-hit by the Covid-19-induced shutdown, remained outside the stimulus schemes.
After the pandemic hit the country in March last year, the government came up with a host of stimulus packages to help absorb the economic shock. Of the schemes, there were 12 packages involving Tk 24,973 crore for these groups.