Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman yesterday asked banks and financial institutions to finance environment-friendly industrial infrastructure.
He said the Investment Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) Cell of the central bank, backed by the World Bank (WB), has been providing financial and technical assistances to infrastructural projects in the private sector.
The banks and financial institutions should play a major role in the proper disbursement of funds among entrepreneurs, he said. The governor spoke at a function marking the signing of an agreement to help Sigma Engineers with Tk 8.17 crore to build a central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at Comilla EPZ.
If CETPs are gradually set up at all the EPZs in the country, IPFF will also be able to finance them, he said.
IPFF has already completed first phase of its operation by disbursing 100 percent of its credit line to seven small power plants through different banks and financial institutions contributing 178MW of electricity to the national grid, according to the BB website.

News:The Daily Star/08-Feb-2014

Bangladesh bank (BB) has set the target for disbursement of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) loan at Tk 887.53 billion for the year 2014. The amount is 19.63 per cent higher than the last year’s target of Tk 741.87 billion. According to sources, the scheduled banks and financial institutions disbursed a total of Tk 853.23 billion in last year (2013) among 0.744 million SME entrepreneurs across the country.  The SME loan disbursed in 2013 was also16 per cent higher than the target set for the year. Out of the total disbursements, women entrepreneurs received Tk 33.46 billion under the SME financing. Of the amount Tk 654.72 billion crore was distributed in urban area while Tk 198.50 billion in rural area. The authorities could achieve their target in disbursement of SME loans because of due policy supports from the central bank like rescheduling facilities and low interest rates, said SME Programme Department general manager Masum Patwary.
“BB always encourages commercial banks and the financial institutions to supply adequate loan to SME entrepreneurs to promote the Small and Medium  scale industries,” said the general manager. BB  is  planning to implement some effective initiatives for further expansion of SMEs across the country such as start up financing, credit guarantee scheme, venture capital financing, SME deposit product, cluster mapping, SME product marketing and web based marketing, non financial services and  incubation centre.
In Bangladesh, 90 per cent private sector enterprises are SMEs. Around 25 per cent of the country’s total labour force are working in the SME sector and contributes about 40per cent of gross manufacturing output, the general manager also added.
Banks in Bangladesh are being supported in SME financing initiatives at subsidised interest rate with refinance facilities from Bangladesh Bank, which is being funded by the central bank, government of Bangladesh and development partners like IDA, ADB and JICA.
The SME loan disbursement has increased in recent days as the central bank is continuously encouraging new entrepreneurs to take SME loans from banks and financial institutions, said M Mafuzur Rahman, executive director of the central bank.
“The development of SMEs can reduce economic disparity from society and help the country to create more employment opportunity. So we need to expand SME loan allocation across the country for the betterment of the economy,” also said the executive director.

News:Daily Sun/08-Feb-2014

Sajjad Hussain has recently joined AB Bank as deputy managing director, head of operations and chief risk officer, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Prior to joining AB, he served Dhaka Bank as deputy managing director and head of operations.
Hussain has 30 years of experiences in the banking arena and started his career with American Express Bank and later served the bank as its senior director and country operations officer.
An MA in English literature from Dhaka University, he also worked with One Bank, according to the statement.

News:The Daily Star/08-Feb-2014

Business activity in China’s service sector expanded at its slowest pace in two and a half years in January, a private survey showed on Friday.

The HSBC/Markit China services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) posted at 50.7 in January, continuing the fall from 50.9 in December and 52.5 in November, adding to concerns about a moderation in the world’s second-largest economy.

PMI above 50 percent indicates expansion; below 50 percent, contraction.

Despite weakening business conditions at the start of the year, Chinese service providers were optimistic in January, generally expecting activity levels to be higher than current levels over the next year. Optimism was largely driven by forecasts of improving economic conditions and new product launches.

Qu Hongbin, HSBC’s chief China economist, said the slower expansion reflected soft manufacturing growth and the impact of government measures to curb extravagance.

“As business sentiment remains stable, we expect service growth to bounce back a little in the coming months,” Qu said, adding that a meaningful improvement relies on stronger manufacturing growth and service sector reform.

The National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing on Monday released the official PMI for the non-manufacturing sector in January, which also fell to the lowest since February 2012: 53.4.

Both official and HSBC manufacturing PMI showed a slowing in January.

Annual economic growth slowed to 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the third quarter’s 7.8 percent, settling full-year growth at 7.7 percent, slightly above the government 7.5 percent target.

Although headline GDP growth remains stable, analysts expect further moderation as authorities turn their attention to a more sustainable model and various reforms.

                                                                                                             News:Daily Sun/05-Feb-2014