bdnews24.com :
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered to invest in the housing sector for Bangladesh’s rural people.
The donor has also advised Bangladesh to utilise its buoyant remittance in productive sectors.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman highlighted the country’s ‘stable economic progress’ while meeting top officials of the Manila-based ADB at its headquarters on Thursday.
Leading the ADB side, its Vice President for Private Sector and Co-finance Operations Lakshmi Venkatachalam informed Rahman that they were discussing possible projects to facilitate housing of Bangladesh’s rural population.
Rahman welcomed the move.
The governor went to Manila on Nov 23 to receive the ‘GUSI Peace Prize International 2014’ Award for his work in economics with a focus on welfare of the poor. It was handed over to him on Wednesday.
He will return home on Friday.
When asked about Bangladesh Bank’s housing project that extended credit on a 9 percent interest, Rahman told Venkatachalam that it was currently shut.
“However, the government is implementing its ‘One House, One Farm’ project through the newly established ‘Palli Sanchay Bank’ (rural savings bank),” he said.
The government set up the specialised bank to provide support to the rural and under-privileged people and to give institutional form to its ‘One House, One Farm’ project, which it hopes would be instrumental in alleviating poverty.
Rahman said, “This project can be implemented on a large scale with the ADB’s assistance or another new project can be undertaken to this end.”
Until now, the ADB has not provided assistance to Bangladesh’s rural housing sector.
Venkatachalam highlighted the important role of remittance in Bangladesh’s economy and requested Rahman to utilise it in productive sectors. The governor said it was being used in various sectors like poultry and pisciculture.
He agreed to a request from ADB officials to send a Bangladesh representative to a seminar on utilising remittance to be held in Manila next year.
They promised to continue funding the ongoing projects in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s economy ‘stable’
The governor earlier highlighted Bangladesh’s economic progress at the ADB headquarters in a presentation titled ‘Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development: The Bangladesh Case’.
Bangladesh maintained its ‘economic stability’ amid the global recession and had been achieving a GDP of over 6 percent over the past several years.
He hoped the growth would top 6.5 percent this year pointing out that most economic indices were positive.
Bangladesh now boasted foreign exchange reserves worth $22 billion, up from mere $7.4 billion five years ago. Remittance inflow increased to $14.23 billion while the export income doubled to $30.18 billion, he added.
The central bank governor noted that the inflation was cooling gradually. It was 6.6 percent in October on a point-to-point basis.
He said the inflation would come down to 6.5 percent in the current fiscal, as announced in the monetary policy, if the political stability continued at home and market situation around the world remained stable.
Rahman said the ‘financial inclusion’ of the central bank had had a positive impact on Bangladesh’s banking sector.
“…I believe it is helping us in taking our economy forward,” he said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered to invest in the housing sector for Bangladesh’s rural people.
The donor has also advised Bangladesh to utilise its buoyant remittance in productive sectors.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman highlighted the country’s ‘stable economic progress’ while meeting top officials of the Manila-based ADB at its headquarters on Thursday.
Leading the ADB side, its Vice President for Private Sector and Co-finance Operations Lakshmi Venkatachalam informed Rahman that they were discussing possible projects to facilitate housing of Bangladesh’s rural population.
Rahman welcomed the move.
The governor went to Manila on Nov 23 to receive the ‘GUSI Peace Prize International 2014’ Award for his work in economics with a focus on welfare of the poor. It was handed over to him on Wednesday.
He will return home on Friday.
When asked about Bangladesh Bank’s housing project that extended credit on a 9 percent interest, Rahman told Venkatachalam that it was currently shut.
“However, the government is implementing its ‘One House, One Farm’ project through the newly established ‘Palli Sanchay Bank’ (rural savings bank),” he said.
The government set up the specialised bank to provide support to the rural and under-privileged people and to give institutional form to its ‘One House, One Farm’ project, which it hopes would be instrumental in alleviating poverty.
Rahman said, “This project can be implemented on a large scale with the ADB’s assistance or another new project can be undertaken to this end.”
Until now, the ADB has not provided assistance to Bangladesh’s rural housing sector.
Venkatachalam highlighted the important role of remittance in Bangladesh’s economy and requested Rahman to utilise it in productive sectors. The governor said it was being used in various sectors like poultry and pisciculture.
He agreed to a request from ADB officials to send a Bangladesh representative to a seminar on utilising remittance to be held in Manila next year.
They promised to continue funding the ongoing projects in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s economy ‘stable’
The governor earlier highlighted Bangladesh’s economic progress at the ADB headquarters in a presentation titled ‘Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development: The Bangladesh Case’.
Bangladesh maintained its ‘economic stability’ amid the global recession and had been achieving a GDP of over 6 percent over the past several years.
He hoped the growth would top 6.5 percent this year pointing out that most economic indices were positive.
Bangladesh now boasted foreign exchange reserves worth $22 billion, up from mere $7.4 billion five years ago. Remittance inflow increased to $14.23 billion while the export income doubled to $30.18 billion, he added.
The central bank governor noted that the inflation was cooling gradually. It was 6.6 percent in October on a point-to-point basis.
He said the inflation would come down to 6.5 percent in the current fiscal, as announced in the monetary policy, if the political stability continued at home and market situation around the world remained stable.
Rahman said the ‘financial inclusion’ of the central bank had had a positive impact on Bangladesh’s banking sector.
“…I believe it is helping us in taking our economy forward,” he said.
