Finance Minister SAMS Kibria yesterday requested the opposition to refrain - from hartal enabling speedy recovery of the damages caused by the century's worst flood, reports UNB.

He estimated the loss for hartal at more than Tk 396 crore per day to the economy, already shattered by the natural calamity.

If BNP and other opposition parties announce a moratorium on hartal, the ruling Awami League will also do the same while it would sit in the opposition. Kibria held out an assurance.

He was briefing newsmen about the impact of hartal on economy and post-flood reconstruction activities at his chamber yesterday.

The Finance Minister asked the opposition to exercise patience and shun hartal as a means of realising political demands that inflicted a heavy loss.

The loss includes Tk 80 crore in export, Tk 249.52 crore in production and Tk 56.5 crore in revenue. Kibria said.

'The hartal is a threat to total economy. It is a planned conspiracy to thwart the economic growth." he said. "People should resist such acts to save economy from a disaster."

Otherwise, he feared, the dream of attaining a higher economic growth will be foiled.

Hartal again stalled the economy that was rapidly recovering from the century's worst and longest flood damages. he said.

"By united efforts, we've overcome the worst natural calamity. Now we ll have to resist man-made problems," the minister said, criticising opposition sponsored general strike, that, he said, is hindering postflood relief and rehabilitation activities.

The Finance Minister said foreign food and financial aid for post-flood reconstruction are being delayed as negotiations with donors have been hampered due to hartal. He re-

ferred to repeated rescheduling of his meeting with European and Japanese donors.

European Union and Japan were considering to allocate 150 million US dollars and 175 million US dollars respectively for Bangladesh. A Japanese mission is now in the capital.

The government has increased the number of VGF cards to 40 lakh for distribution of foodgrains among the destitute as well as agriculture loan among the flood-hit farmers. These programmes are being hampered due to repeated hartal calls, he added.

"Everyday agriculture loan of Tk 11.5 crore can't be given to farmers due to hartal," he said informing that some Tk 3270 crore will be distributed among the farmers for post-flood agricultural rehabilitation.

, The Finance Minister said: "The government has taken all possible steps to keep export uninterrupted even during the worst flooding. But hartal halted the export depriving the nation much needed foreign exchange.

The readymade garments sector alone incurs Tk 50 crore loss for everyday of hartal, while loss of other exports is about Tk 30 crore. Besides, production loss of each hartal day constitutes Tk 59.84 crore in trade and commerce. Tk 44.13 crore in industry. Tk 29.96 crore in construction. Tk 28.85 crore in Bank and insurance and Tk 76.95 crore in professionals and miscellaneous sectors.