Bank loans to women entrepreneurs under SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) category increased by 1 percent in the first quarter of the year 2012 compared to the previous year. From January to March, all banks have disbursed Tk 646.59 crore in loans among 4,481 women entrepreneurs across the country. The amount was 5 percent of total SME loans disbursed by banks Tk 14,281 crore in the same period, according to statistics provided by SME and Special Service Department of Bangladesh Bank (BB).

The target set by the central bank for the year 2012 is to disburse Tk 59,012 crore as SME loans.

In 2011, a total of 16,996 women entrepreneurs have received Tk 2048.5 crore which was 4 per cent of total amount disbursed under SME category by banks. In the year 2010, some 13,831 women entrepreneurs have obtained Tk 1,804.92 crore in loans.

Meanwhile, BB statistics suggests that the trading sector is still on the top of priority by banks to endorse loans, though it is maintaining a slightly declining trend year-on-year.

In percentage point share, disbursement of SME loans to trading sector was 66 per cent in 2010 and 64 per cent in 2011. It has come down to 62 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Industrial sector followed the next position as the bank loans to this sector increasing slightly year-on-year. The sector has received 28 per cent of total SME loans in 2010, 29.4 per cent in 2011. Data for January-March of 2012 showed that this sector has received 32 per cent, out of total disbursement.

Total disbursement of SME loans in the year 2010 and 2011 was Tk 53, 544 crore and Tk 53,719 crore respectively.   

The share of bank loans to the service sector was 6.6 per cent in 2010 and 2011 while it came down to 6 per cent in first quarter of the year 2012.

A BB official said the central bank has been persuading banks for long to raise loans to productive pursuit which is directly involved in employment generation. “To this effect, the BB authority has separated the SME department with adequate manpower to monitor banks’ performance in this regard,” said Sukumol Sinha Chowdhury, general manager of the department.

He said the central bank believe that SMEs alone can generate huge employment across the country.
“Employment will help grow trade and commerce and industries which are important to accelerate economic growth,” said the official.

The Independent/ Bangladesh/ 13th May 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) is going to launch online library and e-news clipping software today.

BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman will formally inaugurate the modernisation work at the BB conference room at about 11:00 am.

Data on BB, banking sector and socio-economic situation of the country will be available on both the sites.

Central bank officials will be able to log-in to both the sites by using network ID and password in the Bangladesh Bank’s website.

IT operations and Communication Departm- ent of BB has been working to develop the online library and e-news clipping management software. BB sources said presently there are 189 books, 115 Journals, 477 articles and information on 33,682 books in the online library.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 13th May 2012

Wasim Akhtar Saifi, global head of Islamic banking of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), arrives in Dhaka today for a two-day official visit, the Bank said in a statement yesterday.

This is his second visit to Bangladesh. Saifi took up this role in January 2011, and is based in Singapore.

He is expected to meet key regulators, clients, employees and other stakeholders during the visit.

This is Saifi's second stint with SCB, the first being from 1986 to 2003 in numerous roles, including CEO of SCB Sri Lanka and regional head of Transaction Banking, MESA.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 13th May 2012

The International Monetary Fund's loan is a bitter pill, which not every patient can swallow, Akbar Ali Khan, a former caretaker government adviser, said yesterday.

His comments came at a training workshop for economic reporters at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel organised jointly by Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) and Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund of International Finance Corporation.

Khan, who was a finance adviser, also criticised the government for telling the IMF that the country's economy is under pressure and it needs fund to support the balance of payments.

“When we (economists) said the macro-economy is under pressure, they (government high-ups) said it (our comment) was rubbish. But IMF document shows the economy is under pressure and it will take at least three years to recover,” he said.

Recently, the government has received the first instalment of the IMF's $987 million loan. The former adviser said the IMF's influence on the economy would rise due to this loan.

Khan said the loan is tied with financial and systematic time-bound conditions, including withdrawal of subsidies and supplementary duty on luxury imports, adjusting fuel prices in line with the international market rate and increasing power prices at regular interval.

“All of these reforms are not required at the moment,” said Khan, also a former finance and cabinet secretary.

“The IMF gives a heavy dose where a small one works.” In most cases, he said, the IMF takes a rigid stance and it would have been much better if the government could run the country without the IMF loan,” he said.

The former adviser, however, said he is happy that the loan would keep the government in control of economic management.

Former central bank governor Dr Mohammed Farashuddin, former member of the National Board of Revenue Aminur Rahman, Dhaka University professor MA Taslim and Dr Khandker Golam Moazzem of Centre for Policy Dialogue were the other speakers.

Farashuddin said, though the IMF's conditions seem quite stringent, those need to be abided by for the sake of the economy.

“Why we'll sell electricity at half the rate of India's,” he said, adding that the IMF tells Bangladesh to adjust this type of discriminations.

The former governor said he is too concerned to see a huge capital flight through under and over invoicing of exports and imports.

Taslim said the rising payment for interest is becoming a 'big burden' for the economy. He also said feeding the rental power plants has hurt the private sector investments.

Former NBR member Rahman said the government may fail to achieve the revenue target this fiscal year due to not starting the constructions of the Padma bridge and Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.

Khawza Main Uddin, ERF president, and Abdur Rahim Harmachi, general secretary, were also present.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 13th May 2012

Mohammad Nesar Uddin, Chief Financial Officer of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), has recently been promoted to Executive Vice President (EVP), said a press release.

He joined IBBL at the Financial Administration Division as a Vice President in 2006.

Earlier, Nesar Uddin served ACNABIN Chartered Accountants as a Manager-Audit and Advisory. He also worked at Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Ltd. (KAFCO) as Internal Auditor.

Nesar Uddin completed Masters in Accounting from Dhaka University in 1999.

He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB). He visited Singapore, Malaysia and Switzerland for attending training and seminars. New EVP also completed ‘Train the Trainers (ToT) course on International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS)’ in the UK as a nominee of the Bangladesh Government.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 12th May 2012