Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman has recently been awarded with the prestigious World No-Tobacco Day Award 2012 by the World Health Organisation in recognition of his significant contribution towards anti-tobacco movements in Bangladesh.

The award will be formally conferred on Rahman on the celebration of World No Tobacco Day today at Osmani Memorial auditorium in the capital.

In his earlier years as an academic and researcher in development economics he all along remained active in civil society campaigns against tobacco use; extensively engaging in writing, media appearances and lobbying efforts with the authorities for policy reforms.

Upon taking over as central bank governor in 2009, he introduced an anti-tobacco growing stance in credit policies, with an advisory circular dissuading banks and financial institutions in Bangladesh from extending credit facilities for growing tobacco.

Simultaneously, he has been promoting a well-orchestrated financial inclusion campaign to ensure that farmers get the needed financing support for shifting to growing other feasible and remunerative alternative crops.

Other awardees from South-East Asia Region are: Late Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian health minister; Praveen Mishra, secretary for health and population ministry of Nepal; Carlo Fonseka, chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol in Sri Lanka and Cancer Patients Aid Association in India; and Monika Arora, head of the Health Promotion and Tobacco Control, Public Health Foundation of India.

Earlier Rahman also received Sheltech Award (2010) for his outstanding contribution in developing the financial sector of Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque (2011) in recognition of his contribution to international cooperation towards human progress, and Nawab Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury National Award 2012 by the Nawab Ali Hasan Ali Smriti Sangsad in recognition of his major contribution in banking and finance.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 31- May-2012

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman presides over a meeting at the BB conference room Tuesday.

Bangladesh Bank has not extended deadline for raising paid-up capital of Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) to Tk 1 billion, hence they must fulfill the condition by June 30.

BB Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury said it to the journalists after a meeting with Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association (BLFCA) yesterday in the city.

President of BLFCA Asad Khan, however, told the journalists that increasing paid-up capital to Tk 1 billion is quite impossible by June 30 as some of NBFIs even have not got SEC approval yet to release IPO.

He also alleged that FIs are not getting loan from the banks at 15 percent interest rate. “Even most of the banks are now charging 18 percent interest on loans.”

Central bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman presided over the meeting held at the BB conference room.

BLFCA members and BB officials were also present at the meeting.

“We have not extended the deadline. Hence, the five NBFIs who are yet to increase their paid-up capital to Tk 1 billion must meet requirement by June 30 (today),” said SK Sur Chowdhury.

The NBFIs also need to start working on issuing IPO (Initial Public Offering) in the stock market, he added.

The Central bank deputy governor warned of tougher action against those who would fail to meet the requirements.

Sur Chowdhury said: “BB will be positive in its approach to support bringing back tax exemption facility for Zero Coupon Bond investment if NBR seeks any comment from us.” Commenting that the inflation rate of the country has come down to a satisfactory level, he said if the trend continues till September or October next, the Central bank will think of allowing the NBFIs to resume their home loan window.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 30th May 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday refused to extend the deadline for non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to raise their capital base to a minimum of Tk 100 crore.

In a notice last year, the central bank asked the NBFIs to raise their paid-up capital to at least Tk 100 crore by June 30 this year from Tk 50 crore to minimise risks.

Of the 31 NBFIs operating in the country, five companies -- IIDFC, Fareast Finance, Hajj Finance, Reliance Finance and National Finance -- have asked the central bank for a time extension.

“There is no scope for the time extension. They failed to raise the capital despite repeated requests,” said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the central bank.

“One year is enough time to raise paid-up capital,” said BB Governor Atiur Rahman.

“I hope the financial institutions which are yet to raise the capital to Tk 100 crore will do so by the deadline,” said Rahman, citing examples of banks that have raised their paid-up capital to Tk 400 crore in time.

The central bank advised the NBFIs to float initial public offers, issue rights or bonus shares to mobilise funds required to take their paid-up capital to the new floor.

The NBFIs, however, find it difficult to raise capital and pointed to the heavy-handed approach of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in approving their proposals.

“Fareast Finance submitted its IPO proposal two months ago, but the SEC is yet to tell the company when the clearance will be given,” said Asad Khan, president of Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association.

There are rights shares proposals of other NBFIs pending with the SEC, said Khan, also managing director of Prime Finance.

Twenty-two NBFIs are listed on the stock exchanges.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 30th May 2012

Qatar has proposed to invest its currency worth of $1.8 billion in the Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank will share profits with the Gulf nation from investing the fund abroad, a high official said.

Bangladesh received such a proposal from abroad for the first time in 25 years.

The proposal was made Sunday when a 10-member team led by Qatar's assistant minister for international cooperation affairs met BB officials in Dhaka.

BB officials had a detailed discussion with the Qatari delegation on the investment proposal.

The Qatari team enquired about the BB's foreign currency reserve (around $10 billion now), where the BB makes investment abroad and how much profit it gets against those investments.

The BB official told The Daily Star that the central bank makes a handsome amount of profit every year from the investments it makes abroad.

The investment of BB's reserve ranges from one day to one month or more. As a result, the rate of interest varies.

The official said the profit to be given to Qatar will be determined on the basis of the time for which it deposits the money with the BB.

He said Qatar will convey its final decision regarding the investment during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to that country from today.

The BB official also said, if Qatar deposits the money with the BB, its reserve will increase and it will have a positive impact on the balance of payments.

The official said it will also bring a better result regarding Bangladesh's country rating.

He said, after 1987 this is the first time Bangladesh got such a proposal. Before 1987, some Middle East countries invested small amounts of money with the central bank of Bangladesh.

The BB official also said Qatar makes investment of a huge amount of money abroad. The country has offered to invest a small part of it with the BB as a symbol of Muslim fraternity.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012

Credit flow to women entrepreneurs has become low, due to non-cooperation of bank officials. A recent report, conducted by the SME & Special Programmes Department of Bangladesh Bank (BB), has revealed that a number of bank officials are reluctant to receive credit proposals from women entrepreneurs.

According to central bank guidelines, based on individual guarantee, Banks are directed to approve loans up to Tk. 25 lakh, for women entrepreneurs. With collateral, a women entrepreneur can obtain a maximum of Tk. 50 lakh credit for small enterprises. But, the report stated that banks usually approve such amounts in rare cases.

“In reality, women entrepreneurs are not getting proper support from a section of bank officials, before and after the disbursement of loans,” the report stated.   During inspection, BB inspectors were told that Banks are not getting enough proposals from women entrepreneurs.

The report has identified lack of communication and coordination between banks and entrepreneurial women as the real problem.Statistics provided by the SME and Special Service Department showed that Bank loans to women entrepreneurs, under the SME category, has increased by only 1 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the previous year.From January to March, all banks have disbursed Tk. 646.59 crore in loans, among 4,481 women entrepreneurs, across the country.

The amount is 5 per cent of the total SME loans disbursed by Banks during the same period. The target for SME loan disbursement in 2012 was set at Tk. 59,012 crore, of which, 15 per cent had been reserved for women-led enterprises.In 2011, 16,996 women entrepreneurs had received Tk. 2048.5 crore as loans, which was 4 per cent of the total amount disbursed under the SME category by banks. In 2010, about 13,831 women entrepreneurs had obtained Tk. 1804.92 crore in loans.

The BB report mentioned that the central Bank has initiated new approaches to increase disbursement of loans to women entrepreneurs and issued directives to Banks in this connection. New approaches include provisions for making women entrepreneurs aware about relevant documents,  processing a loan proposal through organising seminars and workshops, one-to-one meetings or group discussions at Bank branches and proper counseling for sustainable growth of business.

Sukumol Sinha Chowdhury, general manager of the SME and Special Service Department, said the initiatives are aimed at building linkage between women entrepreneurs and Bank officials.“Banks can contribute to the national goal of women empowerment, by creating more space for women entrepreneurs. We’re trying to achieve the goal. I hope that banks would come forward to resolve the financial needs of women entrepreneurs,” Chowdhury added.

At present, the central Bank focuses on promoting Hamala (Camel’s Sit Cover) producers in Rangamati, and Monipuri Weavers in Sylhet. The BB official said that all scheduled and foreign banks were asked by the central bank to provide financial support to women entrepreneurs.With the help of some banks, the central Bank has recently completed seminars in Rangamati and Sylhet to literate women entrepreneurs about SME financing.

The BB official said the central Bank has introduced ‘dedicated help desk’ for women entrepreneurs to lodge complaint regarding financial services by Banks.

The Independent/ Bangladesh/ 26-May-2012