Visiting President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Dr Ahmad Mohammad Ali on Monday said Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd is not involved in terror financing in any way, reports UNB.
He came up with the claim at a press conference at the IDB Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon area to brief about the progress of the IDB’s Fael Khair programme of construction of 180 school-cum-cyclone shelters in the country’s coastal areas. “It’s absolutely wrong. You know well that it is ethical financing.  So it’s absolutely not correct,” he said replying to a query if IDB, as leader of Islami Bank Bangladesh, thinks there is space for Islami Bank to have involvement in financing terrorism.
Dr Mohammad Ali said the construction of some 180 cyclone shelters, including 24 schools-cum-cyclone shelters sponsored by the IDB will be completed by the end of the next year.
The IDB president said construction of 24 school-cum-shelters has already been completed. A total of 180 shelters, in the 15 construction packages, will be built in 40 upazilas of 13 coastal districts under the Fael Khair Programme of the IDB at a cost of US$ 110 million, he added.
He also inaugurated two newly-built school-cum-shelters—Channir Chak LC High School at Koyra upazila in Khulna and Rayenda Pilot High School in Sarankhola upazila in Bagerhat.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith today (Tuesday) leaves Dhaka for Kazakhstan to attend the 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) beginning at Astana on May 2, reports BSS.
According to the ministry of finance, Muhith will reach Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan via Abu Dhabi and Almaty today. On May 1, he will attend a briefing meeting with executive director of the ADB Umesh Kumar and hold meeting with ADB president Takehiko Nakao.
The finance minister will attend a cultural show before joining a bilateral meeting with Indian finance minister P Chidambaram on May 2.
On May 3, Muhith will join the 8th informal meeting of SAARC finance ministers and attend ADB president’s reception. He will then join governor’s plenary session “Achieving Achievable a Disaster Resilient Future”.
He will join the opening session of the board of governors first business session before joining the host country reception on May 4. He will also attend the governor’s roundtable discussion on the same day.

A file photo shows jute-made bags at a stall of an SME fair in Dhaka. Scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions failed to fulfil their target of SME loan disbursement in the first quarter of this year due to political and business uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. 

Scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions failed to fulfil their target of SME loan disbursement in the first quarter of this year due to political and business uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
According to the BB data released on Monday, the banks and the NBFIs disbursed 23.77 per cent SME loan amounting to Tk 21,053.41 crore in the first three months of 2014 against their annual target of Tk 88,537.24 crore.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that the banks and the NBFIs should have disbursed at least 25 per cent loan in the first quarter in accordance with their annual target.
The businesspeople have earlier adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach due to the political unrest which put an adverse impact on the SME loan disbursement.
The BB data, however, showed that the SME loan disbursement by the banks and the NBFIs had increased by 8.79 per cent in January-March of 2014 compared with that of the same period a year ago.
The banks and the NBFIs disbursed Tk 21,053.41 crore in the first three months of 2014 from Tk 19,351.99 crore during the same period of 2013.
The four state-owned banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — disbursed Tk 1,509.64 crore, or 27.33 per cent SME loan in the first three months of 2014 against their annual target of Tk 5,523.56 crore.
The private commercial banks disbursed Tk 17,893.76 crore, or 24.33 per cent SME loan in the first quarter of this year against their annual target of Tk 73,531.69 crore.
The BB data showed that the NBFIs had made a lower performance than the banks in the first three months of this year as they disbursed SME loan amounting to Tk 639.03 crore in the period against their annual target of Tk 2,939.91 crore.
BB SME and Special Programmes Department general manger Md Masum Patwary told New Age that the SME loan disbursement by the banks and the NBFIs had slightly decreased in the first quarter in accordance with the annual target due to the political unrest.
He, however, said that it was a good sign that the SME loan disbursement had increased in the first three months of this year than the corresponding period of 2013 despite the political unrest and business uncertainty.
He hoped that the SME loan disbursement would rebound strongly from the next quarter which would ultimately help fulfil the annual target set for the banks and the NBFIs.

 Exim Bank received the ICMAB Best Corporate Award 2013 in the category of Private Commercial Bank (Islamic Operation).

The award was given for the bank’s capital adequacy, asset quality, corporate governance, adequate earning and profitability, risk management, contribution to the national economy, regulatory compliances, transparency and great contribution to the corporate social responsibilities, said a press release.

AAM Zakaria, Managing Director of FSIBL, inaugurates a branch of the bank in Meherpur on Monday.

First Security Islami Bank Limited (FSIBL) opened a branch in Meherpur on Monday.

AAM Zakaria, Managing Director of FSIBL, inaugurated the branch, said a press release.

Sk Abdul Wadud, Zonal Head of Khulna, Kazi Md Amanullah, Head of General Services Division, Azam Khan, Head of Marketing and Development Division, Md Kased Ali, Manager of Meherpur branch, branch managers of Khulna division and local elites attended the function