Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman speaks at a discussion, jointly organised by Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, UNEP and Swiss Sustainable Finance, in Bern on Wednesday. 

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman said that the central bank has taken many innovative initiatives for addressing the longer term needs of inclusiveness and environmental sustainability towards stable economic growth and development pursuits of the country. The BB has been providing regulatory and policy support to align the entire financial sector towards supporting inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth; and that this approach has served the economy well in upholding domestic demand-led growth momentum amid post global financial crisis that slowed down export growth, he said. Dr. Atiur was addressing two sessions in Bern, jointly organised by Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, UNEP and Swiss Sustainable Finance on Wednesday. He said that the inclusion banking by channeling fund for under-served and excluded micro and small scale productive initiatives and green projects by adopting energy efficient and environmentally suitable output processes are adding incremental output in the real economy in Bangladesh. Mandated by its charter to support output and employment growth besides maintaining monetary and financial stability, BB stepped into imparting a deliberate directional bias in financing flows away from speculative and sustainability, BB chief informed. BB as a result is pursuing a host of concerted initiatives drawn up consultatively with financial intermediaries and targeted client bases, Dr. Rahman further added. The BB-guided partnership between banks and micro-finance institutions has been providing necessary input in strengthening inclusive and green financing flows to the underserved segments of the society in addition to bolstering financial stability agenda, he said.