Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman Saturday called upon the newly recruited central bank officials to keep themselves away from any type of corruption and partiality, upholding its image home and abroad.

Mr Rahman was speaking as the chief guest at a function of Foundation Training Course (FTC) for the BB's newly appointed assistant directors (ADs) at the Bangladesh Bank Training Academy (BBTA) in the city.

BBTA arranged the function on the occasion of conclusion of AD second batch's six-month FTC-2014 and inauguration of AD first batch FTC-2015.

BB deputy governor Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury was the special guest at the programme, which was addressed, among others, by director general of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) Dr Toufic Ahmad Choudhury with BBTA executive director (in-charge) Md Golam Mostafa in the chair.

Welcoming the new officials to the lucrative job at the central bank, Dr Rahman also urged them to bear humanity and inclusivity in their minds while carrying out their duties and responsibilities.

Citing different opportunities of the new officials like technology and higher education, he advised them to exploit those and employ their creative minds to contribute to the financial sector.

Mr Rahman further said that the economic recession was at the peak when he took over the charge of the BB. By stressing on financial inclusion, which leads to enhancement of domestic demand, the situation was overcame and the BB is now an ideal in many other countries especially regarding inclusivity, stability and green banking.

"We did those but not at the cost of main function of the central bank," Dr Rahman said.

However, because of 'weak' communication strategy, the BB's functions and activities are not exposed duly to all concerned, he added.

Mr Sur suggested the new officials to apply their creative talents to build bright careers at the central bank and even open out their eyes to seize leadership at different top level financial institutions like World Bank and Asian development Bank (ADB) in the world.

He termed their starting of job at the central bank as "journey to the progress."

BIBM director general Mr Choudhury said that this off-the-job training is actually accounts for 10 per cent of an employee's whole training while 20 per cent of it is earned from experience with seniors and 70 per cent from the on-the-job training.

Heads of the departments concerned have the main responsibility to facilitate the officials to receive such on-the-job training, Mr Choudhury added.

The government plans to revise down its economic growth target for the current fiscal year as the ongoing countrywide blockade and the associated violence have continued to hit the economy hard.

“We will have to revise it because of the current situation. The revision exercise has already begun,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters at his secretariat office yesterday.

The government had earlier targeted 7.3 percent economic growth for the current fiscal year. The World Bank forecast that the economy would grow by 6.2 percent this fiscal year, while the Asian Development Bank said the growth would be 6.4 percent. The central bank last week also said the GDP growth would be in the region of 6.5-6.8 percent.

Muhith is due to update his colleagues in parliament on the macroeconomic situation in the second quarter of the fiscal year in the ongoing parliamentary session and he would bring in the issue of the revised GDP target then.

The minister also spoke on how the nonstop blockade that entered its 28th day is getting in the way of the government's budget implementation.  “Everything has been affected -- people are not being able to run their normal economic activities. How can the economy advance in this situation?” Muhith said.

Nonstop blockades mixed with local and nationwide hartals have badly hit farm incomes, disrupted inter-district road and rail transport, weakened buyer confidence on the exporters' ability to deliver on time and halted the rebuilding of investor and consumer confidence.

Bangladesh is counting about Tk 2,277.86 crore in economic losses a day, due to the blockade and strikes ongoing since January 6. However, it would stand at Tk 2,500 crore if the daily loss is calculated taking into account the 25 percent of the total industrial production, according to the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

The garment sector suffered losses worth Tk 695 crore a day, followed by transport and communication sector at Tk 300 crore, agriculture sector Tk 288 crore, tourism sector Tk 210 crore, poultry industry Tk 18.28 crore as a result of the violence, said the chamber.

Some sectors have also come up with their own analysis.

Garment exporters, whose contribution accounts for 81 percent of the country's total exports and 15 percent of the GDP, said the first 12 days of the blockade cost the industry Tk 450 crore. Realtors, who account for 7 percent of the GDP, are incurring losses of Tk 36 crore every day, said the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh.

The services sector, which makes up half of the GDP, has been particularly affected, as people have been avoiding unnecessary outings fearing petrol bomb attacks, which have so far killed at least 35 and severely burnt many others.

Foreign and local tourists have cancelled their tour plans in groves, hitting the tourism sector.

The industrial sector, which accounts for 29 percent of the GDP, has been affected as raw materials, goods and products could not move smoothly in the last one month.

Farmers could not sell their produce. Furthermore, the supply of agriculture inputs such as diesel and fertiliser has been affected ahead of the boro season, when the country produces more than half of its rice.

The poultry industry, which is part of the broader agriculture sector, incurred losses of around Tk 256 crore in the first two weeks of the blockade, as farmers were unable to sell around crores of eggs, hundreds of tonnes of meat and day-old chicks, according to the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee. Renewed political tensions and violence may negatively affect foreign investor confidence, raising risks to growth over the long-term, Fitch Ratings said.

We expected that the SME loan disbursement will be higher than that of the target set for the year 2015’

But the government has no immediate plan to give any permission to establish such a new commercial bank

Bangladesh Bank warns habitual defaulters of onsequences 

      Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman announces monetary policy for second half fiscal year yesterday  

Bangladesh Bank has decided to offer incentives for good borrowers having regular loan repayment track records, but warned of coming down hard on willful defaulters.

“I have already instructed the related department to make a rebate policy for the good entrepreneurs who pay loan regularly,” said Governor Atiur Rahman, unveiling monetary policy statement for the second half of the current fiscal year at Bangladesh Bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday. 

He said banking governance will be up-scaled further to clamp down on loan delinquencies. While the cases of credit worthy borrowers will be reviewed, habitual defaulters will face lawful consequences, he cautioned. 

The governor announced the plan for incentive two days after blessing big defaulters with a new restructuring policy to facilitate their loan repayment.

In December last, it also relaxed the loan reschedule policy to favour the big borrowers who failed to make installment payment due to political turmoil. 

To defend the loan restructuring policy for defaulters, the governor said it was formulated for the sake of country’s economy and employment. Ultimately, the banks will be the gainer because of this policy as some money would go to their pockets, he said. 

“The defaulters, though, get preference from the central bank repeatedly on excuse of the political unrest but so far good borrowers, who maintain their loan repayment regular even after facing the same difficulties, did not get any favour.” 

In this situation, he said, the central bank will formulate a specific policy to reward the good borrowers. “While making any policy, we do not usually take any big or small borrowers into our consideration,” he said replying to a question.

Echoing the governor, Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury said: “The loan restructuring policy was done as big companies face systematic risks, which may hit the country’s economy.” 

The monetary policy statement stated that the central bank firmly discouraged the abetting of habitual and willful loan repayment defaulter. It also created room for helping out recovery of genuine businesses distressed by circumstances beyond their control with realistic debt restructuring in line with international best practices.

Former BB Governor Salehuddin Ahmed welcomed the decision to award the good entrepreneurs saying it will encourage them to keep growing.

But he strongly criticised the incentives given to the big defaulters saying they did not deserve any benefits as regular loan defaulters are good for nothing.  

According to the policy for the big borrowers, only those who have defaulted loans worth over Tk500 crore will be able to enroll with the new package.

The highest payment tenure will be 12 years for restructured term loans six years for demand and current loans. The rate of down-payment will be 2% for loans less than Tk1,000 crore and 1% for those above.

The banks will charge a minimum interest rate of 1% plus cost of fund against the restructured loans. The privileged clients will not be able to declare any cash dividend in the first three years.

After restructuring, they may borrow up to 50% of the last approved amount for demand and current loans and 60% for term loans. The loans will be classified as special mention account and banks would maintain provision at required rates with the additional 1%.