







































 

American Economic & Social Review 

 Vol. 6, No. 2; 2020 

ISSN 2576-1269   E-ISSN 2576-1277 

Published by CRIBFB, USA 

 

1 

THE IMPACT OF COVID -19 PANDEMIC ON THE ECONOMIC 

GROWTH IN BANGLADESH: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW 
 

 

Md. Shahbub Alam 

Lecturer 

Faculty of Business Administration 

Islamic University, Kusthia, Bangladesh 

E-mail: shahbub.ais07@gmail.com 

 

Md. Jafor Ali 

Lecturer 

Faculty of Business Administration 

Islamic University, Kusthia, Bangladesh 

E-mail: jaforkb@gmail.com 

 

Dr. Abul Bashar Bhuiyan 

Associate Professor 

Faculty of Business and Accountancy 

University of Selangor, Shah Alam, Malaysia 

E-mail: bashariuk@gmail.com 

 

Dr. Mohammad Solaiman 

Associate Professor 

Department of Marketing 

Comilla University, Cumilla, Bangladesh 

E-mail: solaimanmktgcou@yahoo.com 

 

Dr. Mohammad Abdur Rahman 

Assistant Professor 

School of Business Administration 

Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship 

Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

E-mail: rahman@diu.edu.bd 

 

ABSTRACT 

Since the outburst of Covid-19 in China, the world economy is passing in a turmoil situation. 

Undeniably the economy of Bangladesh is also grappled by the severe public health crisis of the 

Covid-19. As the public health emergency is heavily interconnected with economic affairs, it has 

impacted each of the pillars of the economy of Bangladesh. The main purpose of this paper is to 

make evaluations of the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of 

Bangladesh.  This study is based on an empirical review of the recent study works, reports, 

working papers of home, and abroad regarding economic crisis. The review findings of the 

paper revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic have significant impacts on the different indicators 

mailto:shahbub.ais07@gmail.com
mailto:jaforkb@gmail.com
mailto:bashariuk@gmail.com
mailto:solaimanmktgcou@yahoo.com
mailto:rahman@diu.edu.bd


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2 

of the economy of Bangladesh especially, Readymade Garments Sector, Foreign Remittance, 

Bank and Financial Institutions, Food and Agricultures, Local Trade, Foreign Trade (Export 

and Import), GDP (Gross Domestic Product), SDGs (Sustainable Development Goal), 

Government Revenue and Employment etc. This study suggested that as Covid-19 still surfacing 

all over the world so some steps should be ensured by the government agencies of Bangladesh to 

mitigate possible threats for the economy. 

 

Keywords: Covid-19, Impact, Economy of Bangladesh, SDGs. 

 

INTRODUCTION 

The novel coronavirus disease that was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 

(COVID-19) is quickly spreading around the world. As of March 27, 2020, the total number of 

cases exceeds 460,000 and the disease has claimed more than 20,000 lives globally. Since March 

2020, while new cases in China appear to have settled down, the number of cases is 

exponentially growing in the rest of the world(Toda, 2020). The 20th century witnessed two 

pandemics since the historic ‘Spanish Influenza’ of 1918: the ‘Asian flu’ of 1957 and the ‘Hong 

Kong flu’ of 1968. The 21st century has seen four pandemic outbreaks: N1H1 in 2009 (‘bird 

flu’), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome 

(MERS) in 2012, and Ebola which peaked in 2013-14. But this COVID-19 pandemic is different, 

economically speaking hit nations both economically dominant nations as well as economically 

dependent nations. The number of COVID-19 case is already many fold larger than the number 

of SARS cases in the previous pandemic(Baldwin et al., n.d.). This already focused on that 

COVID-19 is spreading human suffering worldwide. As the public health crisis is highly 

associated with economic affairs as like as  global public health, economy, and livelihood issues,  

it has grappled the global economy exponentially towards the dramatic downturn that pushed it 

into the worst recession after the great depression of the 1930s (Ali, Bhuiyan, Zulkifli, & Hassan, 

2020). It is most definitely spreading economic suffering worldwide. The virus may be as 

contagious economically as it is medically(Baldwin et al., n.d.). The potential impact of COVID-

19 on global monetary poverty through per capita household income or consumption contraction. 

The impact will spread on among low, medium, and high-income people(Sumner et al., 2020). 

The other influential discussions over monetary and fiscal policy responses to the COVID-19 

epidemic and the ensuing economic fallout (Guerrieri et al., 2020).  

The looming economic crisis may create panic, mass unemployment, poverty, and 

homelessness. The US already claimed a vast increase in unemployment (4.6 million) during the 

coronavirus emergency and speculated that lockdown will cause more deaths than COVID-19 

itself amid the recession (Reger et al., 2020). The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has critically 

impacted global health systems and economies, especially in developing countries. Those 

countries have been struggling to address the preexisting burden of diseases with limited 

resources, which will become even more challenging during COVID-19. The economic 

implications related to COVID-19 in those countries include a high cost of care, market failures 

in pluralistic health systems, high out-of-pocket expenses, the added burden of non-

communicable diseases, missed economic opportunities, and socioeconomic consequences like 

unemployment and poverty (Rodela et al., 2020). The global pandemic has also made an impact 

on the overpopulated developing country Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the Institute of 

Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has reported the first 3 cases of 



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3 

coronavirus on 8 March 2020. Currently, the country has a total of 3,37,520 coronavirus cases 

with 4,733 deaths (September 14, 2020)(IEDCR). 

To combat, Bangladesh has employed international travel bans and a gradual lockdown. 

However, countries like Bangladesh are at a greater risk because of large population density, 

inadequate infrastructure, and healthcare systems to provide the required support(Ma et al., 

2020). Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries due to high population density (170 

million people in 147,000 sq.km), poor health care systems, and a weak economy. In recent 

years, Bangladesh's economy has been growing well with a GDP growth rate of more than 7.5%, 

however, 20% of the population is poor. Nevertheless, because of the rapid spread of the 

COVID-19, Bangladesh's economy has already started taking a big hit. The nationwide 

shutdown has already suspended almost all economic activities except agriculture and made 

thousands of employments at risk. International trade orders, especially in ready-made garments 

industries, are being greatly canceled (M. T. Islam et al., 2020). Most of the people in our 

country live below the poverty line. Due to lockdown since March 8, 2020, the people are 

passing an overwhelmingly stressful moment. If the lockdown process continues for longer many 

people would face severe starvation. The economic strength of the country is also deteriorating 

day by day. The rate of unemployment increases day by day. Though govt. takes initiatives to 

tackle these pandemic situations by various promotional packages to the entrepreneur, but the 

recent situation has not improved so much because of banning international trade. Our most 

promising export sectors e.g. labor; garments, fish, etc. are passing hazardous moments.  

In such circumstances, this paper tries to summarizes of available resources to review of 

possible impacts of Covid 19 on the economic indicators in Bangladesh, especially readymade 

garments, foreign remittance, local trade, international trade, government revenue, employment, 

financial institutions, production, and distributions due to the isolation, quarantine, distancing, 

and shutdown measures. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to make review and 

evaluations of the potential impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Bangladesh.   

 

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 

Concept of The COVID -19 Pandemic 

Since December, 2019, a novel coronavirus disease 2 (SARS-Cov-2) known as COVID-19, a 

group of acute respiratory diseases with never disclosed and unknown etiology, was first 

identified in 1 man in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei Province in the People's Republic of 

China The novel coronavirus disease that was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 

(COVID-19) is quickly spreading around the world. As of March 27, 2020, the total number of 

cases exceeds 460,000 and the disease has claimed more than 20,000 lives globally. Since March 

2020, while new cases in China appear to have settled down, the number of cases is 

exponentially growing in the rest of the world(Toda, 2020). The 20th century witnessed two 

pandemics since the historic ‘Spanish Influenza’ of 1918: the ‘Asian flu’ of 1957 and the ‘Hong 

Kong flu’ of 1968. The 21st century has seen four pandemic outbreaks: N1H1 in 2009 (‘bird 

flu’), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome 

(MERS) in 2012, and Ebola which peaked in 2013-14. But this COVID-19 pandemic is different, 

economically speaking hit nations both economically dominant nations as well as economically 

dependent nations.  

However, the number of COVID-19 case is already many fold larger than the number of 

SARS cases in the previous pandemic(Baldwin et al., n.d.). This already focused on that 

COVID-19 is spreading human suffering worldwide. As the public health crisis is highly 



https://www.cribfb.com/journal/index.php/aesr                      American Economic & Social Review                              Vol. 6, No. 2; 2020 

4 

associated with economic affairs as like as  global public health, economy, and livelihood issues,  

it has grappled the global economy exponentially towards the dramatic downturn that pushed it 

into the worst recession after the great depression of the 1930s (Ali, Bhuiyan, & Zulkifli), It is 

most definitely spreading economic suffering worldwide. The virus may be as contagious 

economically as it is medically (Baldwin et al., n.d.). The potential impact of COVID-19 on 

global monetary poverty through per capita household income or consumption contraction. The 

impact will spread on among low, medium, and high-income people(Sumner et al., 2020). The 

other influential discussions over monetary and fiscal policy responses to the COVID-19 

epidemic and the ensuing economic fallout (Guerrieri et al., 2020). 

 

The COVID -19 Pandemic and Interconnected Global Economy 

Since the Covid-19 epidemic outraises, there has affected millions of people and claimed the 

lives of more than three hundred thousand people around the world. Likewise, the current Covid-

19 epidemic has affected all walks of life and businesses in several ways, including a sharp drop 

in domestic demand, supply disruptions, a reduction in tourism and travel. scarcity of trade and 

production and impacts on health (Abiad et al., 2020; Hutt, 2020; Report, 2020). Even the 

pandemic has become the primary concern for the survival of humanity in the world. While the 

devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic is still elusive, defeating this pandemic requires 

coordinated and coordinated efforts globally to build a resilient and sustainable public health 

system and an economic system to recover. As international interdependence has flourished, 

leading indicative acts such as agriculture, economy, education, energy, environment, socio-

politics, health, infrastructure, politics international, population and human development, etc. 

interact to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth for a shared experience and vision of 

prosperity among states. No state alone can achieve sustainable human and social development 

in this era of globalization. Amid the significant public health risk COVID-19 poses to the world, 

the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of international 

concern to coordinate international responses to the disease.  

However, it is certainly a global crisis because no country is immune to this health and 

economic disaster. Among the interconnected indicators, the episode of global health increased 

the participation rate and affected all other factors of globalization linked to the international. 

China's global role and large-scale trade in the world are important contributors to the spread of 

the Covid-19 pandemic (Wong, Leo & Tan, 2020). In addition, the global health and economy, 

among others, are being hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, as it is the boom and the trap of 

globalization. This global health issue comes with a high degree of uncertainty, such as longer 

quarantines, travel restrictions, closures of non-essential restaurants and businesses, social 

remote ordering, lockdowns, and more. regarding the severity, magnitude and extent of the 

problem. consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, global health risks and economic 

consequences are certainly the consequences of globalization and the entire nation must do 

everything in its power to address them. Public health crises, infections and diseases, and 

innovation in therapeutic medicine and vaccines go beyond individuals and their families to 

involve and influence entire societies, their institutions and their global interrelations and 

estimations (Kohlscheen, Mojon & Rees, 2020). 

 

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY 

The main purpose of this study is to assess and assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 

pandemic on the economy of Bangladesh. This study is based on an empirical overview of recent 



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5 

study work, reports, domestic and foreign working papers on the economic crisis. Therefore, the 

study uses available resources to investigate the potential impact of the 'Covid 19 pandemic and 

various economic indicators, notably ready-to-wear, remittances abroad, local trade, international 

trade, government revenues, employment, financial institutions, manufacturing and distributions 

because of isolation, quarantine, dissociate and shutdown measures in Bangladesh. The study 

collected most of the review material, exploring the covers of Google Scholar, ProQuest and 

Scopus, and other online resources, etc. 

 

REVIEW FINDINGS 

Impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Bangladesh 

The COVID-19 has already affected 208 countries and regions in the world. Economically 

developed countries are failed to tackle this pandemic situation. In comparing developed 

countries, the developing and poor countries are unable to meet this condition. Bangladesh is the 

most densely populated country in the world and its medical facilities are so limited that it is not 

possible to provide medical facilities to large populations. Till now, there is no vaccination for 

this virus. Only isolation and lockdown are the means to stop the spread of this deadly virus. Due 

to lockdown and isolation, the world economy is at a turmoil stage. The economy of Bangladesh 

is seriously affected because of its small number of economic attributes to meet the demand for a 

huge population. If this lockdown and isolation period continues for a longer period, the people 

of this nation will die to starve.  The possible negative economic impact of COVID-19 covers as 

under. 

 

Readymade Garments Sector 

The readymade garments sector plays a vital role in the rapidly developing economy of 

Bangladesh. The readymade garments industries are the principal source of foreign exchange 

earnings. The readymade garments sector covers more than 85% of total export earnings. More 

than four million workers are employed in the RMG industries, and more than 85% are illiterate 

women from rural villages (Wikipedia). Due to the commencement of COVID-19, already the 

Bangladesh readymade garments (RMG) industry has received work order cancellations of 

nearly $3 billion.  Around 2 million workers in the industries will be affected by this. Around 4 

million people are directly engaged with the RMG sector e.g. backward linkage industries, 

accessories and packaging factories, and the transportation sector. The government has already 

declared a Tk-50.00 billion incentive packages to mitigate the losses in the RMG sector. 

However, if the outbreak prolongs it will be difficult for the government to handle the situation 

and the result of this will be catastrophic as more than 85 percent of the country's export earnings 

come through the RMG sector. 

 

Foreign Remittance 

Remittance is the lifeblood of many developing countries in the world like Bangladesh. The 

country is embraced with a huge population, but this population is assets for the country because 

they are well known as a remittance fighter and worked in different parts of the world. 

Bangladesh is now one of the largest recipients of remittance with almost $15.3 billion in 2018. 

It was the third-highest recipient of remittance in South Asia in 2018. Bangladesh Bureau of 

Statistics revealed that 33.45% of remittances go to investment and 13.74% of remittances go to 

savings (Wikipedia). Due COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from January 2020 onwards has 

seemingly changed many parameters in the world economy, society, politics, and culture. The 



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6 

remittance sending behavior, trends, volumes are changing day by day (BMG). However, 

vulnerability is often higher among migrant workers, and it curbs the capability to send 

remittances. During the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, we have observed some resilience in 

remittances flows in certain corridors (Sirkeci et al., 2012). Orozco reported about a 10% drop in 

remittances in that period while estimating about a 3% drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic 

(Orozco). The lockdowns in many countries will cause migrant workers jobs as well as 

preventing them to travel back and forth to home countries (Williams., 2020). Remittance flows 

in 2020 to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to fall by 19.7 percent to 

USD 445 billion, one of the sharpest declines in recent history.  
The World Bank projects a decline of remittance flows across all regions: Europe and 

Central Asia (-27.5%); Sub-Saharan Africa (-23.1%), South Asia (-22.1%), the Middle East and 

North Africa (-19.6%), Latin America, and the Caribbean (-19.3%), and East Asia and the 

Pacific (-13%) (World Bank, 2020). The economy largely depends on foreign remittance 

(Wikipedia). From March to April Due COVID-19 crisis near about 9 million people backed to 

Bangladesh as a result of the flow of remittance tremendously decreasing in the last few months. 

The foreign remittance will come down and thus it will hit the foreign reserves of the country. 

The amount of foreign remittance in July 2019  was Tk. 135.00 billion and each month the flow 

of remittance declining. The month of March, April, and May 2020 the flow of remittance 

significantly decreased and at the same time, a large number of people unemployed in abroad, 

and most of them were backed in the home. 

 

Table 1. Flow of foreign remittance.                    (Tk. In billion) 

 

Months July,1

9 

Aug Se

pt 

Oct No

v 

Dec Jan,20 Feb Mar Apr May Jun 

Amt.   135 122 

.08 

12

4.8 

13

9 

13 

.85 

143 

.62 

139 

.10 

123 

.36 

108 

.42 

92 

.85 

127 

.82 

155 

.62 

Source: Bangladesh Bank 

 

The flow of remittance declined from January 2010 to February 2010 11.29%, February 

to March 12.11%, March to April 14.87%. Though the flow of remittance slightly improving in 

May and June, it does not show a positive sign, if worldwide locked down continued in the next 

months the flow of remittance will be declined. 

 

Bank and Financial Institutions 

Bangladesh is a developing country with an impoverished banking system with fifty-nine 

commercial banks, thirty-four non-banking financial institutions, and sixty-two insurance 

companies (Wikipedia). These institutions are highly interdependent with each other and 

dependent on the industrial sector of Bangladesh. Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 the banking 

industry is in critical stages for the mounting of non-performing loans (NPLs). If the RMG 

industry and its backward linkage industries fail, then the entire banking system will collapse. 

The commercial banks, non-banking financial institutions, and general insurance companies are 

heavily relying on garments and related industries for their business. In the long run, the amount 

of deposit, as well as the investment, will decrease dramatically and these institutions will not 



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7 

able to pay enough to its employees. Many employees will lose their job and the number of 

banks and financial institutions will collapse. The current scenario of non-performing loans 

indicates horrible situations in the banking sectors. In July 2019 the non -performing loan ratio 

stood-11.69%, in October 2019 the ratio was 11.99%, in January 2020 the ratio was 9.30%, and 

in March the ratio was 9 % (BB).  

 

Food and Agricultures 

Bangladesh is a lower-middle-income country in South Asia, agriculture plays a key role as the 

main supplier of food, source of livelihood, growth, and employment. Almost half of 

Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector. During the last decades, the self-sufficiency 

perspective in rice has become dominant in the food security and agriculture policy (FAO).  

Since from out-break of Covid-19, various protection measures have been taken by the 

government of Bangladesh such as border closures, restrictions of movement, closures of 

restaurants, community quarantines, and market, supply chain, and trade disruptions. As a result, 

agricultural production, food supply, and demand for the agricultural product have been affected 

significantly. Farmers are vulnerable as they are hindered from working on their land and 

accessing markets to sell their products or buy seeds and other essential inputs. There huge 

shortage of laborers as a result the production and distribution process is now the eve of 

destruction. The disruptions of the supply chain create frustration among all classes of people. 

The price hike is now common scenarios because of blockages to transport routes, transport 

restrictions and quarantine measures, shortages of labor, and spikes in product prices. The supply 

of fresh foods is now rare and increased levels of food loss and waste. If this situation continues 

the agricultural sector will face great difficulty.  

 

Local Trade 

The economy of Bangladesh is a developing market economy. It is the 39th largest in the world 

in nominal terms and 30th largest by purchasing power parity. The country mainly depends on 

exporting readymade garments items and produces pharmaceutical products, electronics, 

automobiles, bicycles, leather products, jute-oriented products, paper, plastic, cement, tea, 

natural gas, etc. (Wikipedia). There is a proverb in investment that never puts all your eggs in a 

single basket. Bangladesh never obeys this proverb most of the businessmen in this country 

comfort to investment in the garments industry. If the garment sector collapses the entire 

economy, there are many backward linkage industries depends on garment industries and many 

people employed in garment-based industries. Except for garment industries, some large 

business enterprises operated also facing trouble to import raw material and export finished 

goods. The sales volume of such industries declining day by day such as steel, cement, plywood, 

bicycle, metal, gold, hotel, transport, etc. There are many SMEs operated in our country and 

most of them are controlled over by women are now passing a critical moment the sales volume 

is now so minimal that these sector fails to meet its operational costs. 

 

Foreign Trade (Export and Import) 

Bangladesh is in Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Myanmar and India. The 

country has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years mainly driven by exports of 

readymade garments and remittance from migrant workers. (intracen.org). The country is largely 

depended on imported products from neighboring countries. After the outbreak of Covid-19, the 

import and export-oriented companies are also at risk. The Chattogram Port is the main port in 



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8 

Bangladesh. Almost 92 percent of import-export activities are performed through this port, 

reported that imports and exports through this port declined in March by over 12 percent and 26 

percent. Business people fear the country's imports and exports will further decrease in the 

coming days because of the worsened coronavirus situation. The Chattogram Custom House 

earns most of its revenue through taxation. According to the Chattogram customs, in March, the 

country imported goods worth Tk 31,617 crores as per the customs value – about Tk 4,500 crores 

less than that in the previous month. In the meantime, exports of almost all products, including 

the top earner ready-made garments fell significantly, too. Compared to those in February, 

exports in March earned Tk 5,392 crores less. Last month, the country exported goods worth Tk 

14,785 crores. Last month, exports of goods, in quantity, were around 21 percent lower than 

those in February. (Mincom.) The following chart shows the import-export position of the last 

year in Bangladesh. 

 

Table 2. Flow of exports earning.                   (USD in millions) 

 

Months July,19 Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan,20 Feb Mar Apr May Jun 

Amt.   3581 

.48 

3213 

.54 

3145 

.58 

3711 

.18 

3421 

.98 

3426 

.11 

3617 

.31 

3322 

.36 

2732 

.00 

520 

.01 

1465 

.30 

2714 

.95 

Source: Bangladesh Bank 

 

Table 3. Flow of imports earning.      (USD in millions) 

 

Months July,19 Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan,20 Feb Mar Apr May Jun 

Amt.   5247 

.10 

4072 

.70 

5004 

.20 

5279 

.30 

4392 

.40 

5254 

.20 

5334 

.10 

4723 

.70 

4277 

.20 

2858 

.50 

3533 

.40 

4807 

.90 

Source: Bangladesh Bank 

 

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) 

A huge number of people in Bangladesh live from hand to mouth. The country will fall into a 

really difficult situation if the country remains locked down for a longer period. Consistent high 

growth has been unable to create enough jobs in the economy. Due to the inequality of income 

and asset distribution, the advantages of higher GDP growth are not evident in society. On April 

5, the government unveiled a Tk 72,750 crore stimulus package, including the previously 

declared Tk 5,000 crore package, to address the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.  

The amount is nearly 2.52 percent of the country’s GDP. According to the forecast released by 

the Economist Intelligence Unit on 26 March, the global economy is expected to contract by -

2.2% in 2020. These effects are expected to be more pronounced in major G20 economies, such 

as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the US – all countries that are major markets for 

Bangladesh's most vital tradable good: readymade garments. That is why Bangladesh will face a 

greater challenge to attain its expected GDP next year. The growth rate of GDP may be declined 



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9 

by at least 2.0% to 2.5%. Recently ADB estimated that the GDP growth of Bangladesh may not 

exceed 4.5% this year.  

 

SDGs (Sustainable Development Goal) 

Bangladesh will also face difficulty to attain SDGs goal. The Covid-19 not only impacts in the 

short-run but also the long-run. The impact on the SDGs could be threefold: First, it will erase 

some of the commendable achievements made so far regarding some goals which have been 

directly affected; second, it will slow down the progress of some other goals in the coming 

months due to resetting of priorities; and third, resources might be reallocated to the immediate 

priority sectors. All these might cause a delay in the achievement of SDGs; some analysts are 

even foreseeing a re-evaluation of the timeline for achieving SDGs. As far as the seventeen goals 

are concerned, the impact can be of two types: explicit and implicit. The goals which are most 

likely to be explicitly affected are GOAL 1: No Poverty; GOAL 2: Zero Hunger; GOAL 3: Good 

Health and Well-being; GOAL 4: Quality Education; GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic 

Growth; GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality. The forecast mentioned in para-2 is clear indications of 

that. The goals which might suffer implicitly due to divergence in the priorities are GOAL 5: 

Gender Equality; GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy; 

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and 

Communities; GOAL 13: Climate Action; GOAL 14: Life Below Water; GOAL 15: Life on 

Land; GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions. Restrictions on worldwide economic 

activities may lead to some relief for nature, therefore making some improvement relating to 

SDG no 13, 14, and 15. These, however, may not be enough to compensate substantially for the 

overall impact. 

 

Government Revenue 

Tax is the principal source of government revenue. The rest of the revenue comes from non-tax 

sources like fees, charges, tolls, etc. The trend of revenue mobilization for the period from 

FY2014-15 to FY2018-19 is presented below:  

 

Table 4. Revenue receipt                                              (Amt. in crore) 

 

Particulars 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 

Total Revenue 163371 177400 201210 259454 316599 

Tax Revenue 140676 155400 178075 232202 28959 

Non-tax Revenue 22695 22000 23135 27252 27000 

 Source: Bangladesh Economic Review 2019 

 

Government Revenues in Bangladesh increased in 2018-19 income year to 2017-18 

income year. Due to the decline in imports and exports, the revenue collection of the government 

already decreased. Recently the government implements a new income tax policy these may not 

effective to collect enough tax from the public in a crisis moment. There is no doubt that the 

revenue receipt will decline in 2019-2020 income year.   

 

Employment 

For that indicator, we provide data for Bangladesh from 1991 to 2019. The average value for 

Bangladesh during that period was 3.61 percent with a minimum of 2.2 percent in 1991 and a 



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10 

maximum of 5 percent in 2009. The latest value from 2019 is 4.19 percent. For comparison, the 

world average in 2019 based on 182 countries is 7.04 percent. The average for 2019 based on 

182 countries was 7.04 percent. The highest value was in South Africa: 28.18 percent and the 

lowest value was in Qatar: 0.09 percent. The indicator is available from 1991 to 2019. 

International Labor Organization (ILO) has said the employment rate in Bangladesh and other 

countries in the region exceeded the global average and was expected to remain so in the coming 

years because of the government's social protection measures. The regional unemployment rate 

(in Asia and Pacific countries including Bangladesh) is projected to remain at around 3.6% until 

2020, below the global average, the ILO said in its World Employment and Social Outlook: 

Trends 2019 (WESO), released recently, reports BSS. It said the global average of the 

unemployment rate was 5.6% while the figure was around 3.6% in Bangladesh and the other 

Asia and Pacific nations. ILO attributed Bangladesh’s better employment scenario to significant 

social protection measures while the countries with higher poverty rates lacked such measures. 

From the above data and predication of ILO, it seems that Bangladesh may not face a critical 

situation in the COID-19 pandemic. But the scenarios are different a large number of people 

already lost their jobs, salaries of the employees cut down significantly, employees lacked in job 

security, deprived of fair payment, increasing frustration among employees, increasing job 

shifting, a huge number of workers moved to agricultural sectors, child labor increased day by 

day, decreasing better quality jobs, work environment deteriorating day by day. It should be very 

difficult for Bangladesh to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. It needs to 

ramp up its efforts on improving social protection, skills training, and occupational safety and 

health. Bangladesh needs to create millions of decent and sustainable jobs each year if it wants to 

reduce poverty and reach middle-income status. 

 

SUMMARIZATION OF REVIEW FINDINGS 

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic is taking an unprecedented toll on global economy along 

with public health and livelihood issues. As in the case of each of pillars of the economy of 

Bangladesh are sternly battered and consequently it will take times to get back usual pace in 

economic activities. The readymade garments industries, the biggest export earnings sector, are 

highly shaken due to isolation, lockdown, travel ban, and supply chain disruption worldwide. For 

the betterment of the RMG sectors, the government already declared a stimulus package. 

Government, immediately, should take comprehensive support plan until this crisis removes to 

make this sector sustainable. The government may diversify the export basket, not depends on 

RMG sectors, because RMG earn lion part of its total export earnings. Moreover, the effects of 

COVID-19 pandemic on the agrarian economic growth of Bangladesh witness a shocking slow 

down and Farmers, workers; entrepreneurs related to agro-based products are likely to challenge 

an irreparable loss and identity crisis. The agro sector of Bangladesh has a good impact on the 

country’s gross domestic product (GDP). As such, authorities need to provide adequate financial, 

logistic and motivational supports so that they might keep courage and reinvest in their 

workplaces accordingly. Bangladesh government has taken some practical initiatives and 

announced incentive packages of Tk. 50,000 million for providing financial support for the 

farmers in the rural areas for boosting up agricultural production.  

Furthermore, the millions of Bangladeshi skilled and unskilled remittance earners 

working worldwide severely impacted (i.e. about 0.50 million of workers returned to 

Bangladesh) by the COVID-19 pandemic for draconian movement control measure, lockdown, 

travel ban, and factory closure. Authorities need give financial support for these returned 



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11 

expatriates workers and make them engage in production or entrepreneurial activities. To ensure 

a smooth flow of foreign remittance in future government may implement various strategies e.g. 

ensure export of human resources with safety and security by government agencies, searching for 

new labor markets, improving diplomatic relationships with importers countries, ensure 

compensatory packages for wage earners.  

Alike other sectors, the pandemic hardly stunned the money market and stock market for 

work station closure and deteriorated the financial health of the both market. Along with above, 

Micro, Small and medium scale enterprise (MSME) or backward linkage enterprises is seriously 

affected by supply chain disruption, lockdown, and factory closure. Many the workforces of 

Bangladesh are engaged in informal sector are mostly affected alongside formal sector 

employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social safety programs such as the Vulnerable 

Group Feeding and Vulnerable Group Development for the next years must be extended by the 

government to keep the livelihood of layman sustainable. As Bangladesh is the fastest growing 

developing country, Its Gross Domestic Products (GDP) Annual Development Program (ADP), 

Fiscal Policy, and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) are profoundly hampered by the 

COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the magnitude of the economic losses will depend on how 

the outbreak evolves as any pandemic diseases and its economic consequences are vastly 

ambiguous which makes it challenging for policymakers to work out an axiomatic and 

appropriate macroeconomic policy guideline. So, effective policies, initiatives, coordination and 

awareness buildup are inevitable to avert the severity of the crises to overcome this pandemic, 

and an unprecedented wake-up call and coordinated efforts are inevitable governments, and 

private organizations.  

 

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

Since from outbreak of Covid-19 at Wuhan, China as on December 1, 2019, now spread the 

whole globe with devastating mode. Every part of the world is now panicked to tackle 

contagious diseases. We already face an economic slowdown not only in third world countries 

but also in first world countries. It is assumed if such situations continue there might be a 

recession in the long term. Like other developing counties Bangladesh will fall a great difficulty 

because this country largely depends on foreign remittance and exporting readymade garments. 

There is many remittance fighters moved in Bangladesh and the exportation of human power is 

stopped. The exportation of readymade garments declined day by day. A huge number of the 

population is now unemployed and increasing depression among this unemployed. It is still 

unknown when the devastating manner of Covid-19 will end, so all arms of government and 

other agencies should take effective policies, initiatives, coordination and awareness buildup to 

avert the severity of the crises and be proactive in soothing possible negative impacts in near 

future. 

The study also revealed that the magnitude of the economic losses will depend on how 

the outbreak evolves as any pandemic diseases and its economic consequences are vastly 

ambiguous which makes it challenging for policymakers to work out an axiomatic and 

appropriate macroeconomic policy guideline. Therefore, right and effective policies, initiatives, 

coordination and awareness buildup are inevitable to avert the severity of the crises to overcome 

this pandemic, and an unprecedented wake-up call and coordinated efforts are inevitable 

governments, and private organizations. Finally, the study suggested that as Covid-19 still 

surfacing all over the world so some steps should be ensured by the government agencies of 

Bangladesh to mitigate possible threats for the economy. 



https://www.cribfb.com/journal/index.php/aesr                      American Economic & Social Review                              Vol. 6, No. 2; 2020 

12 

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