Strategic Goal Establishing SMEs as effective 09) linkage to large industry and protection of SME products Planned Actions > Developing linkage with large industry > Support for getting international certification > Encourage establishment of environment-friendly Development of capacity for industry and provide necessary training 10) establishing environment-friendly > Provide training and incentives to improve waste management SME industries and industrial waste > Improve and increase use of environment friendly industrial management technologies > Support for setting up waste re-cycling industries Institutionalize SME 11) Statistics and conduct research and development > Determine accurate contribution in national economy > Update SME related various indicators/statistics periodically > Conduct necessary research/investigation Source: Ministry of Industry, GoB(2019) As shown in Table 1, the SME Policy 2019 is quite comprehensive and more importantly on the right track in terms of setting the strategic goals and activities to attain those goals. Moreover, these actions are time-bound, and the policy includes an action plan to implement and monitor these activities. These activities are to be completed by the end of FY 2023-204, and they are categorized as short-term(implementable within 1 year), medium-term(implementable within 2 to 3 years), and long-term(implementable within 4 to 5 years or more as necessary). The policy also clearly defines the roles of different actors(government and non-government) in materializing the said aspirations. As far as pre-pandemic scenario is concerned, Bangladesh seems to have had a commendable growth pattern of the SME sector(especially visible through increased access to formal finance for the sector); a clear understanding/­mapping of the core challenges on the way of further expansion; and most importantly, the country came up with a sector policy with clear cut objectives and a pragmatic action plan to attain the strategic goals. The pertinent question therefore is- to what extent the country needs to revamp its policy stance to cope with the effect of the ongoing pandemic on the economy as a whole and specifically on the SME sector itself. A pre-requisite to answering this burning question is a holistic assessment of the impact of the pandemic­induced economic slowdown as well as assessment of the outcome of the support initiatives already taken to safeguard the sector from the largest recession since the Second World War. 3. Coping With The COVID-19 Pandemic Over the past few months, on the one hand, Bangladesh as a country has been struggling to manage the health disaster caused by the outbreak of the pandemic(mostly because of the health sector not being adequately prepared to manage a shock of this scale). On the other hand, because of its deep integration into the global economy, the economy of Bangladesh has also been feeling the backlash of global economic slowdown (though not as severe as many other comparable economies of the world). Naturally, the SME sector of the country has also suffered due this massive crisis. Experts believe that this sector may be the most affected one because of its limited capital and shock absorbing capacity. While a comprehensive impact assessment is yet to be conducted(as the pandemic is still on-going and no one is sure when it will end); few quick empirical assessments have been conducted and the outcomes have been shared among the stakeholders. And GoB with potent and timely support from the banking system of the country has already launched stimulus package to safeguard the SME sector of the country(it has done so for other sectors as well). This section of the paper presents the effect of the pandemic on the economy in general as well as on the SME sector based on the said impact assessment studies. It also attempts to assess the immediate effects of the stimulus package by GoB and map the challenges on the way of proper implementation of the stimulus program. Coping With The Covid-19 Pandemic. 17