AKM Zamir Uddin

Bangladesh Bank yesterday began publishing foreign currency reserves as per the International Monetary Fund’s BPM6 manual, in a move that will ensure that the country’s dollar stockpile is reported accurately.

Bangladesh, India to begin bilateral trade in rupee from July 11

The banking sector is burdened by a high non-performing loan (NPL) and will need to continue measures to beef up supervision and accelerate loan recovery, according to the Bangladesh Bank.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose past $31 billion yesterday after three multilateral lenders provided $925 million to Bangladesh. 

Allowing directors to stay on for 12 years will deal a huge blow to the financial health of banks, which are already facing several crises, including a lack of corporate governance in recent years, say experts.

On the surface, the monetary policy appears to be tuned to the need of the hour: bring down inflation and conserve reserves. But it comes caving down on careful reading.

The Bangladesh Bank may today raise its key interest rates to tame inflationary pressure but the attempt might go in vain since the monetary authority may not withdraw the interest rate cap on loans in a true sense. 

Eleven banks in Bangladesh faced a collective capital shortfall of Tk 33,575 crore in March, up 9.3 per cent from a quarter ago, in a reflection of their worsening financial health caused by persisting irregularities and lack of governance, central bank data showed.  

The deposit growth in the banking sector of Bangladesh rose in the first quarter of 2023 from a quarter ago as businesses prefer to park funds with lenders instead of making investments amid the ongoing economic slowdown and uncertainty.  

Brac Bank Ltd has planned to double its business by 2025 with a view to catering banking services to people from all walks of life, said its managing director, Selim RF Hussain. 

The Bangladesh Bank has projected that loan repayments against mid- and long-term foreign credits secured by the private sector might fall by 42.6 per cent in 2023, but the development might not bring about major relief for an economy reeling under the forex crisis.

Investments made by full-fledged Islamic banks in Bangladesh surged nearly nine times their deposits in a span of a year, raising questions as private sector credit growth has slowed in the entire banking sector, official figures showed.  

The stubbornly high inflation has raised concerns that inflation expectations would become unanchored, meaning inflation will get much worse, which may necessitate an extended period of contractionary monetary policy, said Bangladesh Bank. 

The government’s move to set up a digital bank and develop a machine learning and artificial intelligence-based credit rating system will bring a positive change in the banking sector, said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB). 

The government will depend heavily on borrowing from Bangladesh Bank to manage its budget deficit in the next fiscal year amid the tax authority’s continuous failure to generate adequate revenues, a reliance that may stoke inflationary pressures and worsen the current economic volatility. 

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today in his budget speech hoped that the ongoing stress in the foreign exchange reserves would improve in a short period of time.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today in his budget speech said that a digital bank would be set up within the next fiscal year to broaden and accelerate financial inclusion efforts. 

The US-based global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service yesterday downgraded Bangladesh’s sovereign rating by one notch to B1 from Ba3.

Private sector credit growth in Bangladesh dropped to a 14-month low of 11.23 per cent in April owing to weak credit demand amid the current business slowdown, official figures showed.  

Banks in Bangladesh witnessed an accumulation of default loans by Tk 10,964 crore in the first three months of 2023, highlighting the worsening financial health of the banking sector, official figures showed.