Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman on Saturday urged the banks to go for a long-term investment for boosting economic growth in the country. Appreciating different initiatives of banking sector the BB chief said Bangladesh Bank would initiate supports including long-term domestic savings for financing durable investment in the country. Addressing as chief guest the inaugural session of an international seminar on ‘Banking in Bangladesh: The Leap Forward’ at a city hotel, the governor said ‘The central bank is working with the government towards putting in place pension schemes for general citizenry including NRBs, besides the existing pension and provident fund schemes for formal sector employees.’ He also said Bangladesh Bank had already lined up a WB funded $300-million longer term local lending line in USD. Another $200-million longer term lending line in USD from the central bank’s own resources is being lined up to support green transition of the country’s export oriented textiles or apparels and leather sectors, Atiur said. The Association of Bankers, Bangladesh organised the seminar where ABB chairman Ali Reza Iftekhar was in the chair. Atiur said the government had given International Finance Corporation the go-ahead for issuance of taka-denominated bonds up to $1 billion, proceeds of which would be used in longer term lending to projects in the country. He also said the central bank had over the past few years been driving necessary enablement initiatives for the banking sectors like leading a countrywide massive modernisation of the payments system and the financial sector IT infrastructure, including BACH, BEFTN, NPS, NID based e KYC and most recently the RTGS. The governor also assured that BB would encourage and support all spontaneous positive initiatives in the banking and financial sector. The UNB adds: Prashant Ranjit, regional head of asset liability management of Standard Chartered Bank, South Asia, presented a keynote paper on ‘Asset Liability Management’.
