Rakibul Islam yearns for the day he graduates from a reputed institution, although it once seemed like a far-cry as the costs of education were a burden to his family.

He recalled his past struggle, at a scholarship-award giving ceremony by Shahjalal Islami Bank yesterday, standing in front of hundreds of students like him, policymakers and bankers.

It was uncertain whether he could even complete his schooling as his father passed away early and his mother struggled to make ends meet. But his mother never compromised on her son's education. He is now a first-year student at Government Edward College in Pabna. Rakibul Islam was awarded a scholarship of Tk 25,000 by the bank. 

“The scholarship is motivation for the needy but talented students,” he said. “It is a great initiative by the bank.”

The bank awarded scholarships worth Tk 1.1 crore to 500 meritorious and financially-insolvent students, who passed SSC and HSC in 2013 across the country, at yesterday's programme.

A total of 5,000 students had applied for the scholarship.

Each student received a onetime payment of Tk 20,000 at the SSC level and Tk 25,000 for HSC level.

BEIJING: China’s bank lending nearly doubled in August from the previous month, central bank data showed on Friday, rebounding towards what analysts described as a normal level.

Chinese banks granted 702.5 billion yuan ($114.5 billion) in new loans last month, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement, nearly twice July’s 385.2 billion yuan, reports AFP.

But it was still lower than June’s 1.08 trillion yuan and 10.3 billion yuan less than the amount recorded a year ago, PBoC data showed.

Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist, said August’s figure, although still “relatively low” represented a “close-to-standard” monthly level given analysts’ consensus that the government wants to see 10 trillion yuan lent this year.

“It reflected limited relaxing of monetary policy, which was targeted and not aggressive,” he told AFP.

Premier Li Keqiang has said that the government would not seek to boost economic growth by pumping up credit growth.

“There is already a large amount of money in the pool. It’s impossible for us to continue to rely on issuing new bank notes to stimulate economic growth,” Li said this week, according to an earlier report by the state-run Securities Daily.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, an analyst with research firm Capital Economics, welcomed the slower credit growth.

“It is necessary to put China’s growth on a more sustainable long-run trajectory,” he wrote in a research note.

Shen said August’s lending figure also showed soft demand for loans as the property market remained sluggish, which was among the reasons for the slump in new loans in July.

“The economy’s major problem is weakness in the property sector,” he said.

Real estate is a key driver of economic growth and a major source of revenues for local government, but China’s new home prices fell for the fourth consecutive month in August.

The government appointed Dr Mihir Kanti Majumder as Managing Director (MD) for newly established state run bank Palli Sanchay Bank.

Appointing Dr Mihir Kanti for three years, the Banking and Financial Institutions Division of the Finance Ministry issued a gazette notification on Thursday, reports banglanews.

Dr Mihir Kanti Maujmder was the Secretary of the Environment and Forest Ministry and Rural Development and Cooperatives Division of the LGRD Ministry.

Earlier in July, the prime minister asked authorities establish a new specialized bank named Palli Sanchay Bank to avoid the misuse of deposits made by rural poor.

Abul Barakat, the immediate past chairman of Janata Bank, yesterday pilloried Finance Minister AMA Muhith, calling him an intellectual fraud, vindictive and power abuser.

“He [Muhith] is always humiliating people. He does not know how to show respect -- that's why he is always using dismissive words like 'rubbish',” Barakat said at the unveiling of the book, Janata Bank's Five Years in Corporate Social Responsibility, at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
He went on to term the finance minister an elitist, adding that he only works for his region's upper crust -- not for the poor. “There is nothing that he would not do for the elite.” No-one can beat Muhith when it comes to nepotism, Barakat said.
“He gives jobs in important positions to his close relatives such as brother, sister, son, daughter, niece and nephew, even if they are not qualified for the positions,” he alleged.
Barakat also called the finance minister a lobbyist, while citing an incident in which Muhith requested him to give a bank guarantee to a private TV channel owner for the purpose of opening a letter of credit account.
“He did that just because the TV channel interviewed him. But I rejected the request and now, he has become vindictive toward me.”
Barakat said he never got the support of the finance minister during his time at the state-owned bank. “I was always opposed by him.” Janata Bank sends its budget including allocation for corporate social responsibility activities to the finance ministry every year for approval, he said.

“Then how can the finance minister say that he did not know about the bank's CSR expenditure? It is his ignorance,” Barakat said, while seeking apology from Muhith over his “false comments” about the state bank.
He went on to assert that the state minister for finance sent him a letter asking for money from the bank's CSR fund for a boat race in Sunamganj. “I have the letter to back up my words.”
Barakat, then the chairman of Janata, did not entertain the request, due to which, he says, the bank's CSR activities were suspended.
Muhith earlier said Janata, along with Agrani, Rupali and Bangladesh Development Bank, were found spending abnormal sums of money under the guise of CSR, which prompted the finance ministry's banking division to temporarily ban the activity.
Subsequently, Barakat requested the government to form a five-member panel to probe the allegations made by the finance minister about Janata's CSR expenditures.
“I request the finance minister to nominate three members as he is older than me and I will nominate the remaining two,” he said, adding that the probe body must publish the report.
About the ban on the four state banks' CSR activities, Barakat said the ministry cannot do it.
“Janata Bank is an independent company,” he said, adding that the state-owned banks should be allowed to operate and perform independently.
About his successor, Barakat said the finance minister is now searching for a 'giant economist', one who will be an agent of neo-liberalism or Muhith's personal agent or a bureaucrat who will follow the World Bank's and IMF's prescription or a rent-seeker.
The Daily Star tried to reach Muhith by phone several times for comment, but he did not answer or return the calls.

The central bank of Bangladesh has won an international award for promoting financial inclusion, especially through mobile banking services.
Bangladesh Bank revealed this at a press conference at its headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a forum of central banks and other financial regulators working for financial inclusion, selected BB for its first-ever award at the Global Policy Forum in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The AFI introduced the award this year to illustrate and promote successful financial inclusion polices within the AFI network.
“BB has received the award in recognition of innovative and impactful policies for mobile financial services,” Abul Quasem, deputy governor of BB, said at the press conference.
The central bank took initiatives in early 2010 to provide financial services to the unbanked population in rural, urban and remote areas. The BB also issued Guidelines on Mobile Financial Services for Banks in 2011.
The policy has created a conducive environment for mobile banking services to flourish. Mobile banking services are a bank-led model and BB is the regulatory authority. Banks appoint distributors and agents to run the operations.

The BB has so far allowed 28 banks to offer mobile banking services for which more than 17.6 million people have opened accounts.