After alleged misreporting of the financial situation for its first annual report by the media, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh issued a statement explaining its projected finances and funding. The organisation clarified that it is well-funded and capable of meeting its five-year program effectively, stressing that an agreement has been reached with all signatories and there is no funding shortfall.

It further stated that the entire inspection program encompassing about 1,500 factories will be completed between February and September 2014 and that the cost of these inspections represents 83.4 per cent of Accord’s total income in 2014. A further 6.8 per cent will be spent on operational costs, bringing the total to 90 per cent of Accord’s total income.

In its first annual report for the year ending December 31, 2013, Accord had summed up the Bangladesh factory situation, stating that fire and building safety inspections in 800 factories had been completed by end of June, leaving around 700 factories still to be inspected. There are currently over 5,000 garment factories operating in Bangladesh, only a small fraction of which allow the formation of worker unions, thus stifling any improvements in worker rights and preventing the production of garments becoming a democratic process.

www.bangladeshaccord.org/