Russia offers its COVID 19 Vaccine to Bangladesh

Russia has offered Bangladesh its newly developed Coronavirus vaccine "Sputnik V" . Russia offered the "Sputnik V" vaccine to Bangladesh on a G2G (government-to-government) basis. Health Minister Zahid Malek. He told reporters at the secretariat on Monday afternoon. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the vaccine had passed all the required checks and his daughter had already been given it.

The minister said the Russian government wanted to know whether Bangladesh was capable of producing vaccines. If Bangladesh agrees to take the "Sputnik V" vaccine - Bangladesh will be able to produce and distribute its own.  On August 28, Beximco Pharmaceuticals announced that it will invest with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the development of a Covid-19 vaccine. Beximco will be the exclusive distributor and producer of the Oxford COVID 19  vaccine in Bangladesh. Earlier on August 24, the government permitted human trials of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech.

Bangladesh issuing 'Sukuk' Islamic Bond to raise USD 3.6 Billion

Bangladesh has started the process of issuing a new  Islamic bond called Sukuk . The Bangladesh government is planning to raise  USD 3.57 Billion equivalent to 30000 crore taka through this Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western finance. In the 2020-21 financial year, the government is planning to raise 5000 crore taka or 595 Million USD. Malaysia is currently number one in the world in terms of issuing Sukuk. The World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have also issued Sukuk

What is a Sukuk', Islamic Bond?

Islamic law prohibits "riba," or interest Sukuk, were created in order to link the returns of a specific asset being purchased, distributing the benefits of that asset or project. The Sukuk bond was first introduced in Malaysia in 2000.

Sukuk Bond in Bangladesh 

According to the Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, the government has taken initiative to release Sukuk to meet the funding deficit. The Finance Department and Bangladesh Bank have been working together for 9 months. Two separate meetings on Sukuk were held on February 3 under the chairmanship of Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank and on January 26 under the chairmanship of Sheikh Mohammad Saleem Ullah, Additional Secretary, Finance Department. Representatives of private Islamic Bank, Exim Bank, Union Bank, SIBL, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Shariah Council of Bangladesh Bank were present at both the meetings. Finance Secretary Abdur Rauf Talukder was also present at the meeting. The last meeting was held at the central bank on February 28 .

There is no Shariah-compliant material or bond  in Bangladesh to finance the government's deficit. As a result, on the one hand, Shariah financial institutions are deprived of the opportunity to invest in a more secure sector, on the other hand, the government is unable to use the funds of institutions to finance its deficit. The finance department says the government's interest expenditure will also be reduced if deficit financing is done through Sukuk . 

finance ministry further said that the long-term impact of the government's investment projects in the infrastructure sector is enormous, which cannot be expected through the private sector. To do this, the government has so far had to finance the deficit from the conventional banking and financial system. However, Islamic banks and financial institutions can also participate in this process. Through this they can easily take the opportunity to involve themselves in the greater welfare of the society

Initially, the finance department estimated that it would be possible to raise at least Rs 30,000 crore through Sukuk, which could be used for government development activities. To this end, bonds worth Tk 5,000 crore may be released in the current 2020-21 financial year.

Bangladesh's to get Coronavirus Vaccine From China and India

 

On 27 august Bangladesh government approved the trial of the COVID 19 vaccine developed by  Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech Ltd.  The very next day Bangladesh's top drugmaker beximco pharma signed an exclusive deal with India's serum institute to get priority access to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca. 

Vaccine from India's Serum Institute 

 According to Beximco's deal with Serum institute, the Bangladeshi company invested in  Indian serum institute to secure the oxfords  COVID 19 vaccines on time. The investment amount will be treated as an advance and once the vaccine receives regulatory approvals, SII will include Bangladesh among the countries who will be the first to receive an agreed quantity of this vaccine from SII on a priority basis,” Beximco said in a statement. Earlier Indian foreign secretary visited Bangladesh and discussed 

Vaccine from  Chinese  Sinovac Biotech

Bangladesh already started the trial of the Chinese  Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. China Vaccine Company Synovac has been allowed to participate in the trial. The trial will involve 4,200 volunteers and half of them will be vaccinated. The Bangladesh government will get one lakh pieces of vaccine free of cost from Sinovac. 

As Bangladesh was searching for a probable coronavirus vaccine - the promising Chinese and Indian oxford vaccine will help Bangladesh to vaccinate its people.