SIRAJGANJ: Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said the next monetary policy would have a strategy of ensuring credit flow to productive sectors with an aim to tame up the inflation through increasing the supply of essential commodities as per the demand.

“We’ve asked all banks to increase credit flow to productive sectors to minimize inflationary pressures side by side with taking various steps to discourage import of luxurious goods and reduce credit to this sector,” said the BB governor while addressing two separate loan distribution programmes here Saturday.

On July 18, the central bank will announce its half-yearly monetary policy statement for the first six months of the financial year 2012-13 (FY13), he added.

Dr Atiur will announce the policy at a press conference at the central bank’s headquarters in the capital city at around 11 am, official sources said.

The BB will maintain its contractionary monetary policy for the next six months to bring the inflation down to the fiscal target of 7.5 percent from the current double-digit position, a BB official told BSS.

The policy would remain cautious so the credit flow to the private sector maintains its expansion with creating new job opportunity to propel GDP (gross domestic product) growth, which is targeted at 7.20 percent for the FY13.

According to BB, the credit flow to the private sector was 18.22 percent in April. Dr Akhtaruzzaman said the credit flow, which was in line with the neighbouring countries, indicated that the fear of decline in credit flow due to the “restrained” monetary policy proved unfounded.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 15th July 2012

From left, Samiran Chakraborty, head of research at Standard Chartered Bank Mumbai; Jim McCabe, chief executive officer of StanChart Bangladesh; Mahbubur Rahman, president of International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB); Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, chairman of BRAC Bank, and Ataur Rahman, ICCB secretary general, attend a workshop on treasury management, organised by ICCB, in Dhaka yesterday.

The private sector is not getting enough credit for working capital as banks are going through a liquidity crisis, the president of International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh said yesterday.

So it is essential for bankers to learn more about the treasury management for proper utilisation of limited funds, said Mahbubur Rahman.

He spoke at a workshop on treasury management, organised by the chamber and supported by Standard Chartered Bank, at a local hotel in Dhaka. Despite the global recession, the developing Asia's growth in 2011 was recorded at 9.5 percent, he said.

Asia, with a solid global market and a large pool of foreign exchange reserves, has proven to be the shining light in a gloomy and uncertain world economy, according to experts.

"Asia's prospects are likely to be affected by the West. However, it is opined that the rising Asia appears to be able to help save the world from the shrinking economy," according to a statement of the chamber.

In line with Asian economies, Bangladesh's performance has so far been quite resilient to global economic meltdown, Rahman said, adding that the country's macroeconomic performance was better than expected and regionally its performance had been one of the best.

He mentioned that treasury management is the management of cash, fund, currency, bank and financial risk.

"So, it is an imperative tool of finance. It handles actual cash management at companies, and one of its main functions is to establish the optimum cash level so that payments can be made and received as necessary for the proper operation of the company."

Besides, another main function of treasury management is to maintain the liquidity of business, Rahman said.

Without proper liquidity, it is risky for business to operate smoothly and it is also the function of treasury management to minimise the currency risk, he said.

For this, treasury managers touch with currency market of world, he said, adding that the managers analyse the reason of crisis in currency market.

"Sometime this crisis will be benefited for them because they have to pay less to other country for getting their service at cheap rates."

The recent manipulation of London Interbank Offered Rate in UK created panic among the consumer of the banks and "its ultimately spreading all over the world", said Muhammed A (Rumee) Ali, BRAC Bank chairman and vice chairman of Bangladesh Association of Banks.

"Recent change in provisioning requirement by our central bank for the commercial bank may compel banks to draw upon their capital to meet their requirements."

He suggested the central bank to make details study on it. Bangladesh Bank should also have to train its officials for providing exact information, Ali said.

Global economic turbulence led to realignment and changes in global financial architecture, said Jim McCabe, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank.

"StanChart has weathered this storm much better than most of our peers worldwide. This gives us a vantage point in guiding financial innovation in a manner which is sustainable by combining our global capability, deep local knowledge and creativity. Our effort today is towards that end."

The workshop with 60 participants was jointed conducted by Samiran Chakraborty, head of research for Standard Chartered Bank, Mumbai; Alamgir Morshed, head of global markets of Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh, and Biswajeet Sengupta, head of financial market sales for Bangladesh and Eastern India.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 15th July 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) was accorded Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) award by American Lawrence Technological University for being a pioneer in introducing e-Tender system for all kinds of procurement, according to a BB press release.

The award was handed over to BB officials at a conference held from July 3 to 6 at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

Researchers from 59 countries including US, UK, Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong and India participated in the conference.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 14th July 2012

Sukomol Sinha Chowdhury, General Manager, SME and Special Programmes Department of Bangladesh Bank, and Mohammad Abdullah, Managing Director of IFIC Bank, exchange documents after signing an agreement at the central bank premises. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr. Atiur Rahman is also seen.

IFIC Bank Limited and Bangladesh Bank (BB) recently signed an agreement on utilising JICA-assisted funds in Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector in the country.

As per the agreement, IFIC Bank Limited will avail of re-financing facility from the central bank revolving fund to lend money for the development of SMEs, said a press release.

Sukomol Sinha Chowdhury, General Manager, SME and Special Programmes Department of Bangladesh Bank and Mohammad Abdullah, Managing Director of IFIC Bank signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides at the central bank premises.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 13th July 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) is set to announce its annual agricultural and rural credit policy and programme for the 2012-13 financial year (FY13) on July 24 with a disbursement target of taka 141.23 billion.

The target is around 10 per cent higher than the target and disbursement of taka 138 billion for the just concluded 2011-12 financial year (FY12).

BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman will announce the policy at a press conference at the central bank headquarters in the city. The policy will follow the half-yearly monetary policy statement (MPS) for the FY 13, to be announced on July 18.

“All the banks have already been advised to increase their target for agriculture and rural credit by at least 10 per cent,” a BB official told BSS.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 13th July 2012