Ekramul Hoque, Managing Director of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, presides over a view exchange meeting with the branch managers at the bank’s Head Office in Dhaka Saturday.

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited recently organised a meeting to exchange views with branch managers of Dahaka region.

Ekramul Hoque, Managing Director of the bank presided over the meeting at the bank’s Head Office in Dhaka Saturday, said a press release.

The meeting discussed various issues relating the overall performance of the bank.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12

Altaf Hossain Sarker, director of Dhaka Bank Limited, inaugurates 70th branch of the Bank at Shahjadpur in Sirajgonj recently.

Dhaka Bank Limited opened its 70th branch with modern banking facilities and online banking at Shahjadpur in Sirajgonj recently.

Altaf Hossain Sarker, former Chairman and Director of the Bank inaugurated the branch as chief guest, said a press release Saturday.

Khondker Fazle Rashid, Managing Director, Emranul Huq, Deputy Managing Director, branch managers and distinguish clients were also present.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12

Continuing its effort to mark its arrival on the global stage, India will provide Rs 112.946 billion to the International Monetary Fund’s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) facility. Government on Friday sought Parliamentary approval towards this end.

Last year also India provided over $2 billion to the IMF’s fund to help bailouts in Europe and other parts of the world. As part of efforts to overcome the global financial crisis , in April 2009, the Group of Twenty (G-20 ) industrialized and emerging market economies agreed to increase the resources available to the IMF by up to $500 billion (which would triple the total pre-crisis lending resources of about $250 billion) to support growth in emerging market and developing countries, according to IMF.

IMF said this broad goal was endorsed by the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) in its April 25, 2009 communique . The increase was made in two steps: First, through bilateral financing from IMF member countries ; Second, by incorporating this financing into an expanded and more flexible NAB. On September 25, 2009 the G-20 announced it had delivered on its promise to contribute over $500 billion to a renewed and expanded NAB, according to the IMF website.

Currently, the fund has sixteen active bilateral loan agreements worth about $200 billion and two active bilateral note purchase agreements for about $60 billion.

—The Economic Times

Forex reserve down

Mumbai: The foreign exchange reserves of the country fell by USD 471.3 million to USD 294.51 billion for the week ending November 30 due to slide in gold reserves and core currency assets, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

The overall reserves had increased by USD 1.45 billion to USD 294.98 billion in the previous reporting week. For the week ended November 30, the gold reserves slid by USD 386.2 million to USD 27.80 billion, the RBI said.

Similarly, the core foreign currency assets, a major part of the reserves, also dropped by USD 125.7 million to USD 260.01 billion, the central bank said in its weekly statistical supplement. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, the apex bank said.

For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were up by USD 26.9 million to USD 4.430 billion, while the country’s reserve position with the IMF was up USD 13.7 million to USD 2.264 billion, the RBI data showed.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12

The country may see model district budgets from the next fiscal year to help the local people understand about their development activities, according to Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

“I had proposed in the very first year that we should have budget for every district, but we've not been able to get it. I hope from the next year, we'll have at least model district budgets,” he said.

Muhith spoke at a seminar on medium-term budget framework (MTBF) at the city's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.

He said if there is district budget, at lest local people can understand what development programmes are undertaken for their areas.

Finance Division of the finance ministry organised the seminar on "Deepening medium term budget framework" where Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuyian, Finance Secretary Fazle Kabir were also present.

About the failure of adopting district budget, Muhith said the government could not do much about that because of the current accounting system which did not provide any element for accounting by the district. “But, now it has been introduced in the country.”

There should be decentralisation of power from Dhaka, he said. "Our constitution wants it and it was in the constitution of 1959 and 60, but, I must say, politically we don't want it,” Muhith said.

“This is not a matter of this party or that party. The power is supposed to be delivered to the local government, not to be devolved. If power is delivered, it can be taken back any time.”

About the World Bank (WB), the minister said the global lender does not adjust itself with innovations. “Many new ideas were not initially supported by the World Bank.”

Citing his bureaucratic experiences, Muhith said the government once had moved to prepare a new Trade and Industrial Policy and also Water Resource Planning Organisation, but the World Bank did not support it. “But UNDP and other donor agencies supported those.”

The WB later came up and took the credit for it. “As a government officer at that time, I had registered a protest against the leading donor agency's such claim.”

Muhith said there should be a number of portfolio projects in the hands of the Planning Commission from which it can choose the best ones.

He said every project should have a feasibility study which will determine its selection.

About the MTBF, the minister said this new budgetary planning was introduced in 2004 when as a member of the opposition party, Awami League, he supported the move.

Muhith said MTBF should be on multiyear basis for the sake of its implementation in a proper manner.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12

Financial institutions should focus more on rebuilding trust in the banking sector with tightening regulatory and supervisory structures, said an Indian economist.

Developing countries like Bangladesh have to strengthen banking regulation and supervision as it is the main instrument for rebuilding and bolstering of trust in the sector, said YV Reddy, a former governor of Reserve Bank of India. He said though the global financial crisis does not harm the trust of the banking industries in developing countries, it is time to emphasise on rebuilding of trust.

Reddy spoke at the 12th Nurul Matin Memorial Lecture on trust in banking, organised by Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital yesterday.

The world is integrating more rapidly, he said. “Growing contagion risks from ever increasing integration with the global financial system are heightening the need of bolstering defences against erosion of trust.”

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said experience shows that without firm ethical underpinnings, regulatory compliance responsibilities tend to get neglected particularly in good times, as in the run up to the global financial crisis.

He said the right ethical motivations will draw financial intermediaries away from financing of speculative and unproductive wasteful activities.

“It is some years now that we have adopted this approach in Bangladesh's financial sector; beginning with a BB guided initiative of mainstreaming corporate social responsibility in the institutional ethos and objectives of banks and financial institutions.”

That has in turn motivated and enthused banks and financial institutions in socially responsible financing and also environmentally responsible 'green' financing, with due attention to address ecological degradation and climate change threat concerns, according to the governor.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/9th-Dec-12