Bangladesh's sustainable transition from the LDC (least-developed country) status largely depends on effective functioning of the country's financial institutions (FIs), says the central bank chief.
The Bangladesh Bank governor, Fazle Kabir, made the remark Saturday while hailing Bangladesh's recent fulfillment of threshold criteria for graduation to a developing country by a UN panel's assessment.
He noted that the country would get a gestation time of six years to take necessary preparations to make the economy sustainable in post-LDC regime before final review of the graduation criteria.
"The country needs to maintain economic stability in the coming years and banks will have to play an important role by financing huge development works to ensure the sustainability," Mr. Kabir said while speaking as chief guest at a scholarship-awarding programme arranged by Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited (SJIBL).
The central bank governor said the country's overall economic growth is expected to reach 7.4 per cent this year and 7.8 per cent might be projected for the upcoming fiscal year.
"We need to take growth in the double digit as soon as we can. So, the role of the banks in maintaining economic stability is very vital," he told the function of bankers.
Talking about the scholarship awards to 501 brilliant and underprivileged students, he praised the SJIBL
move, saying that the CSR (corporate social responsibility) spending of the bank showed that it is not merely concentrating on profits.
Chairman of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited Akkas Uddin Mollah said the bank authority has enhanced the scholarship money to Tk 2,000 from Tk 1,000 per month following request of the BB governor.
"This is the bank that focused more on industrialisation and SMEs. We're very conscious about asset quality before disbursing money," he added.
Chairman of the Shahjalal Islami Bank Foundation Engineer Md. Towhidur Rahman said the Islamic Shariah-based bank had given scholarships to the meritorious and underprivileged students as part of its CSR activities since 2006.
Besides education, according to him, the scheduled bank also extended its helping hand at times of various national calamities and other forms of crisis like tornados, floods, cold wave and Rohingya influx.
SJIBL managing director Farman R Chowdhury also spoke at the function, where BB governor Fazle Kabir later handed over the scholarship cheques to the 501 students from different colleges, medical colleges and universities.
Off the 501 scholarship-nominated students, there are 160 male and 140 female students for SSC level, 120 male students for HSC and 81 female students for HSC level.
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