Sidr recovery banks on cash, credit or kind

DHAKA, Nov 25 (bdprem.com) -- Credit figured prominently Sunday as a caretaker adviser pointed an accusing finger at micro-lenders who were allegedly squeezing clients to continue loan repayments. Also, the government moved to offer soft loans to Sidr survivors in storm-ravaged areas—a cabinet decision that came a day after former caretaker adviser Akbar Ali Khan's urgent appeal to get farm credit out to farmers. The finance ministry's programme to release Tk 130 crore in soft loans to small entrepreneurs in storm-hit areas was announced Sunday. Fishermen, livestock and poultry farmers and other small businessmen will be given the loans through the government's micro-credit funding agency, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation. Your Ad Here The shrimp farming industry meanwhile, Bangladesh's second biggest export earner after ready-made garments earning $515 million in fiscal 2006-07, said it would ask the government for interest-free loans to get back into operation. Nearly 70 percent of the industry, concentrated in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat, was wiped out by cyclone Sidr. Akbar Ali Khan, also chief of the Regulatory Reforms Commission, said the aman crop, damaged by earlier flooding, compounded food shortages brought on by cyclone damage. He urged banks to consider extending loans to the agriculture sector, even if the loans were likely to end up as bad debt. Otherwise, things could get worse, he said. Khan also said food aid rather than cash would help save many critically endangered disaster victims who could die if there were further delays in converting aid money into food and water. Meanwhile, agriculture and environment adviser CS Karim said the strategies of microcredit must be revisited. Karim also said cost barriers to Bangladesh's acquisition of climate change technology should be eliminated. A UN Rapid Initial Assessment Report made suggestions for sector-specific support, saying, damage to livelihoods was large. "In particular, the fisheries and agricultural sectors will need strong support." The report listed three highest priority areas for immediate assistance: food, shelter and cash. The UN estimated that Cyclone Sidr affected about 4.7 million people in the worst-hit districts and a further 2.6 million people, most of them the "poorest of the poor", are in need of immediate help.