The government has allocated Tk 645 million in the newly proposed budget for interest-free microcredit for poverty reduction programme.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman introduced the rural social service programme in 1974 to lift the disadvantaged and backward population out of poverty, reports UNB.
Through the Department of Social Services, families of the extreme poor in villages have been receiving interest-free microcredit between Tk 5,000 and Tk 30,000 under four microcredit programmes - rural social services activities, rural maternity centre activities, rehabilitation of the people affected by burn injuries and disabled people, and urban society development activities.
About 50 per cent of people involved in these activities are women, the minister added.