Staff Reporter :
Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB) is likely to be turned into a scheduled bank soon to help bring home the hard-earned money of Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) at nominal costs.
Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam declared this at a programme on Sunday in the city.
“When Probashi Kallyan Bank will start functioning as a scheduled bank, the remittances sent by the NRBs will come through formal channel and the inflow of remittances will go up,” the Minister hoped.
The programme was organised to hand over a cheque for Tk 50 crore from the fund of Wage Earners’ Welfare Board (WEWB) to the Minister to reconstitute the PKB’s paid-up capital of the bank for turning it into a scheduled bank.
Nurul Islam said he has a plan to open at least a PKB branch in each district and upazila in phases for the welfare of the NRBs and their families.
Asking the PKB officials to be more conscious in providing loans, he said appropriate people should be given loans from the PKB.
Secretary in charge of the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Zabed Ahmed presided over the programme, attended, among others, by PKB Managing Director A.N.M. Masrurul Huda Siraji, WEWB Director General Gazi Mohammad Julhas, Additional Secretary Md Azharul Haque and Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) Managing Director Maran Kumar Chakravorty.
PKB started its journey with a paid-up capital of Tk 100 crore, WEWB gave Tk 95 crore and the government provided Tk 5 crore-in 2011 for the welfare of the NRBs.
Later, the government has planned to turn the bank into a scheduled bank by raising the paid-up capital to Tk 400 crore. Of this amount, the government will provide Tk 250 crore while WEWB Tk 50 crore.
The PKB has so far provided Tk 211.98 crore in credit to 22,334 people.
