AKM Zamir Uddin

Bangladesh Bank yesterday cut the interest rate on farm loans as part of its efforts to boost the agriculture sector amidst the ongoing economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bangladesh faces challenges in sustaining the effective response it unveiled in the initial phase of the pandemic last year as it grapples with a devastating second wave of the deadly pathogen, the International Monetary Fund has said.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday restored the interbank cheque clearing system in a major relief for users but a backlog of cheques and the non-operational electronic fund transfer (EFT) platform are still causing sufferings to clients.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked banks to draw up country risk management guidelines focusing foreign nations, all aimed at absorbing unexpected economic shocks stemming from abroad.

Bank clients are going through serious troubles as the country’s two major digital means for moving funds, inter-bank cheque transactions and electronic fund transfers (EFT), have been inoperable since April 13.

Inter-bank electronic cheque transaction and fund transfer activities through Bangladesh Bank have been suspended since April 13 due to the disconnection of an optical fibre cable between two data centres of the central bank.

Despite the recent spike in Covid-19 infections, South Asia excluding India is recovering, led by Bangladesh, due to higher-than-expected exports and remittances, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday extended the deadline for disbursing a Tk 20,000 crore stimulus package for cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSME) by another three months to June.

People can open bank accounts from anywhere as an increasing number of lenders have made digital options available, helping customers avail financial services without visiting branches during the coronavirus pandemic.

Key contributors to the economy such as small and medium enterprises, farmers and lower-income professionals had gone through their worst-ever crisis because of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bangladesh Bank has asked National Bank not to disburse any loan without its prior approval.

Small businesses, which are considered the lifeline of the economy, had hoped that the government would take care of them to help them stay afloat when it announced a countrywide lockdown and a gigantic stimulus package to protect the economy and the people from the coronavirus disease in March last year.

Bankers are considered the frontline workers given their role in keeping the wheels of the economy moving, but they are now afraid of performing their job amidst the strict restrictions on movement imposed by the government.

Banks yesterday faced a huge number of cash withdrawals as the government declared a restriction on movement for seven days from today as part of effort to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the government has sought the bank account details of 24 leaders of different organisations, including Hefajat-e-Islam and 30 madrasas.

Remittances sent by migrant workers and non-resident Bangladeshis rose 35 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, hitting $18.60 billion in total.

Bangladesh Bank has identified 13 sectors of the economy that have been severely affected by the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, including travel and tourism, readymade garments, textile and small and medium enterprises.

Private sector credit growth went up moderately in February to keep up with the recovering trend of the economy, but bankers say the rising coronavirus infections and deepening uncertainty have dipped the growth in March.

Spending through credit cards maintained an upward trend in Bangladesh in January, but bankers say the rising coronavirus infections and deepening uncertainty may discourage credit-based purchases.

Bangladesh Bank has decided to increase the size of its export development fund (EDF) as it reaches out to businesses tackling slowdowns from a recent resurgence in daily Covid-19 cases, the highest since last July.