Youngone Group CEO Kihak Sung urges not to close factories

Youngone Group has urged the Bangladesh government not to close factories during the announced nation-wide lockdown— due to be imposed from Wednesday— considering the closure's devastating consequences.

Kihak Sung, chairman and CEO of the group, made the appeal in a press statement on Sunday.  
 
He said the country's RMG sector, the major foreign currency earner, has not yet recovered from the devastating effect of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We now very unfortunately have to cope with the second wave.

Last year the RMG factories operated with lots of difficulties and suffered from huge financial losses. The situation was further aggravated by the unplanned closure of the factories extending up to nine weeks. This resulted in adverse impact on the image of the country and undermined the confidence of some of the major buyers, he added.  
     
Sung continued, "The situation was normal in the factories and Covid-19 positive cases were minimal last year. This normalcy may be maintained if we can avoid closure of factories, long holidays etc. which it was announced will be imposed shortly."

"When the RMG factories are trying their best to recover and survive in a highly competitive global market, any further closure of the factories will be extremely damaging to our economy whereas, appropriate measures will help avoid the impending disaster," he further added.