Dhaka-The 15th Annual General Meeting of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited held on 16/06/2014 at the National Sports Council Auditorium, 62/3 Purana Palton, Dhaka, reports in press release. Md. Yousuf Ali Howlader, Chairman, Board of Directors of BCBL presided over the program. Among the members of the Board of Directors, Tapan Kumar Karmaker, Dr. Md. Zillur Rahman, S.M. Aminur Rahman, Rana Kaiser, Manwar Hossain and Abu Sadek Md. Sohel, CEO & MD, BCBL were present in the meeting. Among others as representative of Ministry of Finance Arijit Chowdhury, Joint Secretary, Abul Mansur Ahmed, Observer, Bangladesh Bank and Md. Abdul Karim were also present in the meeting.
The annual financial statement of BCBL for the year 2012 were accepted and approved on the meeting.
Numerous shareholders of BCBL spontaneously attended the meeting and expressed their satisfaction on the recent advancement of BCBL. The meeting included current business indexes of the Bank and strategic planning for the coming year.
The Managing Director thanked shareholders and others. The president of the meeting then declared end of the program.

Shamsul Huda Khan has recently been promoted to the rank of additional managing director (AMD) in National Bank Limited (NBL), says a press release. Prior to this promotion Huda was a deputy managing director and was looking after international division, general banking division, credit risk management division, credit cards division and anti money laundering division. Huda has been serving in National Bank Limited since 1985.  He has joined NBL as a senior officer.

Prime Bank Limited has recently unanimously elected Khandker Mohammad Khaled and MA Khaleque as new vice-chairmen of the bank at its 417th board meeting for two years term, says a press release. Khandker Mohammad Khaled, former chairman and present vice-chairman of Prime Bank Limited, is currently chairman and managing director of GETCO Telecommunications Limited, GETCO Agro Vision Limited and GETCO Limited. 
MA Khaleque is the founder as well as sponsor director of Prime Bank Limited.

The central bank has so far distributed an amount of Tk 773.33 crore among 9448 women entrepreneurs during the last one decade till May 31, 2014 under its SME refinance scheme, Bangladesh Bank data revealed the information. According to statistics released by the central bank on Wednesday, the total disbursement of the fund stood at Tk 1,998.47 crore till May last, of which 61 per cent was disbursed among male entrepreneurs while the rest (39 per cent) among the women entrepreneurs.
“Loan disbursement among women entrepreneurs under refinance scheme exceeded the target,” said Masum Patwary, general manager, SME and Special Programme Department adding that the bank is getting good responses.  
Bangladesh Bank introduced the SME refinance scheme in 2004 with a view to promoting the country’s SME entrepreneurs. Initially the central bank started the programme with an amount of Tk 100 crore. The central bank took up the initiative to train up entrepreneurs across the country in a bid to create awareness of the SME business among them.
The central bank also directed the financial institutions to disburse at least 15 per cent loan from the refinance fund among the women entrepreneurs, said the SME and Special Programme Department GM.
In the initial stage disbursement of loan among the women entrepreneurs was not satisfactory, said also Patwary adding that the situation had become changed by this time and women are now getting adequate funds.
In 2007, total disbursement of loan among the women entrepreneurs under the refinancing fund stood at Tk 0.09 crore which shot up to Tk 200.24 crore in 2013. According to Bangladesh Bank, the banks distributed Tk 4.2 crore in 2008, Tk 31.15 crore in 2009, Tk 116.01 crore in 2010, 
Tk 117.22 crore in 2011, Tk 185.58 crore in the year 2012. During the first months of current year, till May 31, 2014 the banks disbursed about Tk 68.84 crore among the women entrepreneurs.
“The involvement of women in various entrepreneurial activities can empower them in social, economic and cultural fields, which is essential for attaining sustainable economic growth,” said SME consultant of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management Sukumal Sinha Chowdhry. Country’s half of the population are women, so women’s participation in mainstream economy is very important to attain a sustainable economy, also said the SME consultant.
Bangladesh Bank has undertaken several steps to flourish women entrepreneurs across the country including awareness raising programme on refinancing scheme through using local and national media, arranging national seminar and conference.
The central bank along with other relevant ministries and financial sector has been working relentlessly for the development of country’s women entrepreneurs.  
The central bank as already established a separate department named SME and Special Program Department to help develop the women entrepreneurship, said the BIBM SME consultant. 
The central bank has also instructed the financial institutions to open a “Women Dedicated Desks” to help facilitate them in financial inclusion.
A women entrepreneur Mrs. Afreen, who is also a member of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI), said that women entrepreneurs feel encouraged for running their business and thankful to the k for providing loans under the refinance scheme. She urged banks to provide more low interest loan for the betterment of the country’s women entrepreneurs.

The government has signed $1.18bn (1,209.86bn Japanese Yen) concessional loan deals with Japan for five development projects including a 1,200 megawatt coal-based power plant.

This is the largest ever loan deal between Bangladesh and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The biggest loan deal comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to Japan.

The rate of interest of the Japanese financial package is 0.01% per annum which is payable in 40 years including a 10-year grace period.

Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Secretary of Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Mikio Hataeda, Chief Representative of JICA, have inked the deals yesterday in the city.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, Acting Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh Hirioki Minami and JICA President Akihiko Tanaka were present at the signing ceremony of 35th of JICA.

The projects include construction of 1200MW coal-fired plant at Matarbari in Maheshkhali, natural gas efficiency improvement, inclusive city governance, haor flood management and livelihood improvement and small and marginal sized farmers agricultural productivity improvement and diversification of financing.

Under the power plant project, line, access road, township development, port development etc will be constructed. The project will get $406.22m loan from JICA.

The natural gas efficiency project is to improve efficient use and supply of natural gas by providing facilities for gas supply and efficient use of gas.

It will receive $231m as loan from JICA while inclusive city governance project will get $149.47m.

Inclusive city governance project is aimed at improving public services and promoting economic opportunities in five city corporations – Narayanganj, Comilla, Rangpur, Gazipur and Chittagong.

Small and marginal-sized farmers project will be given $97.20m. The project aims to increase agricultural productivity and diversity of the small and marginal-sized farmers.

Haor flood management project will be provided $149.47m. The objective of the project is to reduce damage from flood, improve access to basic infrastructure and increase agriculture and fishery productivity.

The works under the project include rehabilitation and construction of flood management facilities and rural infrastructures and implementation of agriculture and fishery promotion activities in haor areas in upper Meghna basin.

Japanese ODA loan (also called Yen Loan) are long-term low interest rate loans advanced to the developing countries and have the liability of being paid back. Assistance can be given to major projects of developing countries that generate larger impact on the economic growth, environmental improvement and social development of the countries, which are indispensable for achieving MDGs.

The obligation to repay Japanese ODA loans gives an opportunity to the recipient countries to develop an incentive to recover the investment cost as much as possible.

This encourages the countries to make efforts to ensure the sustainability of the development projects and leads to the attainment of the MDGs and their sustenance.

News:Dhaka Tribune/17-Jun-2014