Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday said almost all the factories have disbursed salaries and festival bonuses among the workers in time so that they can celebrate the festival with their loved ones.

Only seven out of 942 factories inspected by BGMEA are yet to disburse salaries and bonuses, said Atiqul Islam, president of the association, at a press conference at its office in Dhaka.

The owners of the seven factories assured the BGMEA that they were to pay the workers yesterday.

On the basis of complaints, BGMEA inspected 942 factories which had problems in payment.

Many workers also demanded wages for the first 10 days of the current month, which was not possible, Islam said.

BGMEA will organise a programme in Savar to spend time with the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse on the Eid day, he said. The nation's worst industrial disaster on April 24 killed 1,132 workers.

BGMEA says most factories paid workers their dues

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The crisis management cell of the BGMEA will remain vigilant even on the Eid day to avert any untoward incident, he said.

Garment prices declined by 8.81 percent in the US market and 11.46 percent in Europe in the last quarter of 2012, Islam said.

The hardening of the taka against the dollar is another cause of concern for the garment industry, as exporters' earnings fell 8.53 percent between May and July, compared with the same period last year, he said.

Global retailers started shifting orders to Bangladesh's competitors such as India, Vietnam and Cambodia as the country is going through a troubled time for factory accidents, he said.