Md Fazlur Rahman

The Bangladesh Bank yesterday said cattle fatteners or beef producers would get loan from its Tk 5,000 crore refinance scheme formed for ensuring food security.

Bangladesh should conduct real-time monitoring of imports and national supply chains for critical commodities to forecast and respond in a timely manner to policy challenges and tackle the impacts of the dragging Russia-Ukraine war, said Johan Swinnen, director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).   

Russia’s war in Ukraine might be taking place 5,800 kilometres away from Bangladesh and the country is not involved militarily in the dragging conflict in any way, but its economy and people have been paying heavy prices.

Transactions through agent banking accounts rose more than 46 per cent to Tk 673,069 crore in 2022 in Bangladesh riding on the increased use of the fast-expanding banking window, official figures showed. 

Bangladesh’s balance of payments (BoP) deficit would widen massively in the current fiscal year than the central bank had earlier projected owing to escalated imports, lower remittances and export receipts, and higher accumulation of debts.

Internet banking transactions rose more than 61 per cent year-on-year to Tk 27,426 crore in November in Bangladesh as an increasing number of people are opting for digital technologies to carry out financial transactions, official figures showed. 

Some 5,683 companies, societies and partnership firms received registration from the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) in the first half of the ongoing financial year.   

Branches of banks in Bangladesh have gone past the 11,000-mark for the first time despite expanding digitalisation in the financial sector, central bank data showed.

Private sector credit growth rose to 13.97 per cent in November to near the central bank’s target for the ongoing financial year owing to cheaper loans, a development that may stoke inflationary pressures.

Bangladesh received $22.07 billion in remittance in 2022, almost unchanged from a year earlier, although a record number of workers went abroad for jobs in the just-concluding year, Bangladesh Bank data showed yesterday. 

Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have painted a gloomy scenario for the global economy for 2023 as uncertainty persists amid the protracting Russia-Ukraine war, the volatility in the international energy market and higher inflation. The world is expected to head for a recession.

One could not ask for more from Bangladesh at the outset of 2022 as the country rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic-induced lows and people’s two-year struggle appeared to be over finally and they were raring to return to normalcy.    

Outward remittances from Bangladesh through legal channels crossed the $100-million mark for the first time in 2021 as more foreigners are working in the fast-growing economy, data from a global organisation showed.

Although agent banking is spreading at a faster clip in Bangladesh, accelerating financial inclusion, a majority of activities are concentrated in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions, central bank data showed.

Bangladesh is going through some short-term challenges like the rest of the world largely for the external factors but the medium-term prospects for the country remain bright, said Standard Chartered Bank Group Chairman José Viñals. 

The central bank is set to return to its semiannual monetary policy stance after three years as per a suggestion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but local economists say the move would not bring about any change amid the lending rate cap and multiple exchange rates. 

The exchange rate of dollar needs to be freed to make the garment business profitable at this crisis time, said a top leader of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) today.

"Complacency has brought us to the current forex reserve situation,” said Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of the Bangladesh Bank.

The government should come up with a clear strategy to stop fast depletion of the foreign currency reserves in a bid to save the country from a major crisis, said a noted economist today.

The Premier Bank Limited celebrates its 23rd anniversary today. Set up in 1999, it is one of the strongest banks in Bangladesh today with the lowest non-performing loan ratio. Its deposit base and loans have expanded in the last two decades. Recently, M Reazul Karim, managing director of Premier Bank, spoke about the bank’s journey, digital banking and new challenges and opportunities for banks, during an interview with The Daily Star.