Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman on Tuesday said the government disbursed farm loan amounting to Tk 725 crore among the women last fiscal and it has a target to disburse Tk 13,800 crore in the current fiscal. “The central bank has brought qualitative and quantitative changes in farm loan disbursement,” Atiur said while addressing a discussion.

News: The Independent/ Bangladesh/ Aug-17-2011

Rejaul Karim Byron

Default loans continued to rise in the second quarter -- by Tk 643 crore or 2.66 percent -- due to sluggish activities in the industrial sector and unhealthy competition among some private banks.

On June 30, banks recorded default loans of Tk 24,384 crore of their outstanding loans, up from Tk 23,752 crore on March 30, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics.

In the first quarter to March, default loans rose by Tk 1,043 crore or 4.59 percent.

In percentage, however, default loans went down slightly because of a rise in outstanding loans.

On June 30, the total amount of default loans was 7.14 percent of their outstanding loans -- down from 7.27 percent in March.

Default loans of all private commercial banks, state-owned commercial banks and foreign commercial banks increased, except for the specialised banks, but the rise was the highest among the private banks.

However, default loans of all the private banks, except two, were low -- below 5 percent.

In June, default loans of the state banks rose by Tk 125 crore compared to March, according to the central bank statistics. Such loans in state banks increased by Tk 592 crore and in the foreign banks by Tk 37 crore.

But default loans of the specialised banks went down by Tk 124 crore during the same period compared to that in March.

Krishi Bank Chairman Khondker Ibrahim Khaled said performance in the manufacturing and housing sectors slowed, which trapped the loans in these sectors.

He also said money of some banks, especially of the private ones, got stuck in the stockmarket after a fall in prices there. He said another reason for a rise in default loans may be the weakness of the banks in monitoring the loan recovery activities.

Due to an unhealthy competition, some banks do not put adequate efforts to realise default loans from some parties.

A senior executive of a private bank supported the views of Khaled, and said many customers do not pay loans timely and the banks concerned also do not put any pressure on them.

Khaled also said, in this context, if the BB approves some more new banks to be set up the unhealthy competition will rise. He said, instead of giving approval to new banks the central bank should intensify monitoring of the existing banks.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ Aug-17-2011

Janata Bank chief executive officer and managing director SM Aminur Rahman visited Bangladesh Leather Service Centre (BLSC) project at Paiti in Demra in the city  recently. BLSC, a sister concern of Bangladesh Leather Sector Business Promotion Council (LSBPC), produces and exports high quality shoes and other leather  made goods. Janata Bank financed to facilitate BLSC’s factory shifting from environmentally polluted old Dhaka to Paiti at Demra, says a press release.
The bank credited BLSC Tk 3 crore as working capital and Tk 4 crore for infrastructure development as SME loan.
Mohammad Hossain, national consultant of BLSC project, Janata Bank  general managers M Shirajul Islam and M Daud Ahmed  Shikder and other officials were present.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ Aug-16-2011

Bangladesh Bank (BB) will gradually circulate 395 crore new notes of different denominations with the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

It will also issue 60 crore such new coins of Tk 5 denomination.

The central bank will release eight crore banknotes, of the 395 crore new notes, before Eid-ul-Fitr. The notes in the denominations of Tk 2, Tk 5, Tk 10, Tk 20, Tk 50, Tk 100, Tk 500 and Tk 1,000 will be available at all offices of the central bank.

"We plan to release 230 crore new notes in the first phase and 165 crore in the second phase," said Mohammad Masum Kamal Bhuiyan, general manager of BB's currency management and payment system department.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the new banknotes on Thursday.

BB will release 70 crore notes of Tk 2, 30 crore notes of Tk 5, 50 crore of Tk 10, 35 crore of Tk 20 and 15 crore of Tk 50 notes.

There will also 75 crore notes of Tk 100, 70 crore notes of Tk 500, and 50 crore banknotes of Tk 1,000.

The notes are being printed with ink and other materials imported from Germany. A Finland-based company has got the contract to supply the Tk 5 coins. Each of the coins will cost Tk 1.74.

Along with the new banknotes, all existing paper notes in the same denominations will also remain in circulation.

News: The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ Aug-15-2011

A daylong workshop on “collection and distribution of foreign remittance and increase of remittance business” was held in the Pubali Bank head office, organised by its Information Technology Division recently, says a press release. Managing director of Pubali Bank Helal Ahmed Chowdhury was present as chief guest.
Additional managing director MA Halim Chowdhury and deputy managing director Mahbub Mustafizur Rahman were present as special guests.
General manager and chief technical officer of IT division Mohammad Ali presided over the workshop.
Helal Ahmed Chowdhury said that foreign exchange business increased substantially from previous year for priority services and still there are opportunities to acquire more business in respect to  potentiality.
He emphasised exploration and expansion of foreign remittance business by maintaining regular contacts with importers and exporters.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ Aug-15-2011