Economic Reporter :Prime Bank opened a medical support center and eye camp to provide instant free medical services & essential medicine at the Ijtema premises as part of corporate social responsibility.Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, Managing Director of the bank inaugurated the medical and eye Camp recebtly. Deputy Managing Director of the Bank Habibur Rahman, Head of Islamic Banking Division EVP Abu Zafar Md. Sheikhul Islam and Head of Tongi Branch Md. Firdous Alam were also present at the moment.

SK Sur Chowdhury, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank receives a token of Bank Asia\'s contribution of blankets for cold-hit people from Md Arfan Ali, Additional Managing Director and MianQuamrulHasan Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director of the bank at Bang

Md Arfan Ali has been promoted to the post of additional managing director of Bank Asia. Prior to the promotion, he has been serving the bank as deputy managing director, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

He joined Bank Asia in 1999 and has worked as head of branches and other different departments at the corporate office.

He started his career with Arab Bangladesh Bank as a probationary officer in 1991. Later, he served Hanil Bank (now Woori Bank) of South Korea prior to joining Bank Asia. Ali is also a guest lecturer at Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management.

Bangladesh's economic growth will keep up its momentum this fiscal year despite pressure on the budget from a salary hike for government employees and spending on infrastructure, the World Bank said.

Increased infrastructure spending and public sector wage hikes in Bangladesh are expected to keep growth high at 6.8 percent over the medium term, but will widen the fiscal deficit, said the WB's Global Economic Prospects 2016 released yesterday.

The WB report forecasts that GDP growth will be 6.5 percent against the government's target of 7 percent in the current fiscal year. Growth will be 6.7 percent and 6.8 percent in the following two fiscal years, it said.

The hike in public sector wages will affect the GDP in two ways, said Zahid Hussain, lead economist at the WB's Dhaka office. One of the major sectors on which GDP is calculated is public administration, and government officials' income is reflected in public administration.

On the other hand, the employees will spend their increased salary on consumption, which will also have a positive impact on GDP growth.

The new pay scale was introduced in January last year, while it was made effective from July 1. Some 12 lakh government employees have been drawing their salaries as per the new pay scale with arrears.

In addition, when the teachers under the MPO and other officials related to the national pay scale are counted, the basic salaries of an additional nine lakh people have gone up.

pensioners also got a hike in their pay cheques this fiscal year.

The government has made effective only the hike in basic salaries this fiscal year; the allowances will be raised next fiscal year.

An additional Tk 15,904 crore will be required to bear the increase in basic salaries this fiscal year; an additional Tk 23,828 crore will be needed next year to cover the allowances, according to the finance ministry.

Bangladesh has also started implementing a number of big infrastructure projects, including the Padma bridge and metro-rail, said Hussain.

The government plans to implement a good number of projects in the power and road sectors, he added. Under a $2 billion Indian line of credit, a number of projects will be implemented in the road and railway sectors.

If these projects are implemented properly, economic growth will accelerate in the medium-term, according to Hussain.

An amendment to the labour laws in September that strengthens workers' rights and workplace safety should assist export performance, particularly in light of the ongoing US review of Bangladesh trade status under its generalised system of preferences, the WB report said.

As political tension in Bangladesh has abated, exports have rebounded strongly, supporting activity, according to the report. The easing of political tensions or uncertainty should bolster private consumption, it said.