It is about re-routing of "undeclared funds" usually parked in overseas banks or other financial institutions. On this matter, this writer feels that diverting it to real estate will only make the well-to-do better-off. These funds may rather be diverted and utilised towards construction of low-cost housing and setting up of low-level businesses in rural areas and in that way helping the rural people who are usually not so well-off compared to their urban counterparts. This will provide the owners of the undeclared funds to earn about the same low level of interest as the usually low interest rates offered overseas in illegal foreign exchange bank accounts held by local Bangladeshis or those who may even have dual citizenship elsewhere.
Alternatively, it could be diverted to micro financing the rural poor. This could be a pragmatic choice, and a better way to enable our rural people to come out of the 'poverty trap' that lingers on and on.
An Objective Bangladeshi
- Thursday, 21 November 2024 |
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