Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal Thursday asked the officials and employees of Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) to further move forward with their sincere efforts and newer ideas and thus contribute to economic development of the country.
“Please, all of you (BDBL staffs) take pledge that you will render better services to people and thus contribute to economic development of the country and help materialize the dream of building ‘Sonar Bangla’ as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” he appealed.
The Finance Minister was addressing the “Annual Conference for Branch Managers-2020 for formulating the annual operation programme” of BDBL as the chief guest at the conference room of the bank’s head office in the city. Presided over by BDBL Chairman Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir spoke on the occasion as the special guest while Managing Director and CEO of the Bank Kazi Alamgir gave the welcome address. BDBL Director Kazi Tariqul Islam also spoke.
Mentioning that almost all countries of the world are now passing through a hard time, especially in their import and export situation, the Finance Minister said, “Although all of our sectors except the export one are now positive, I believe that at the end of the year, the export sector will rebound,” he added.
Kamal said that after the world economic recession in 2009, Bangladesh, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was able to transform the challenges in to opportunities for which the country has turned into a miracle in the global arena. “Bangladesh is now regarded as a ‘Development Miracle’ in the world.”
He said the BDBL, through the merger of defunct Shilpa Bank and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS), has now been rendering services with newer dimension adding, “Take responsibility of running your operations (BDBL’s) properly and turn it around.” Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said all the parameters of the BDBL except the classified loan scenario is good and suggested the bank high ups of further reducing the classified loan rate to below 20 percent in the next year from the current rate of 38.22 percent.
He said the capital adequacy of the bank is in solid foundation while the deposit growth is also good. “You’ll (BDBL officials) have to adopt the international best practices side by side moving forward keeping pace with the contemporary world and you’ll have to give more attention to the micro and small level,” Kabir said.
He also hoped that once the single digit lending rate becomes effective in a wider scale from April this year, the country’s private sector would come forward in a much bigger way. BDBL Chairman Mohammad Mejbahuddin said that the BDBL is now more active in realizing its default loans as the bank is thriving to come out from its high classified loan rate.
He also vowed to raise the operating profit of the BDBL from the next year through increasing exposure of the bank at the capital market. BDBL Managing Director Kazi Alamgir in his welcome address informed that the bank has made an operating profit of Taka 40 crore last year while it has also reduced its classified loan at 38.22 percent.
He said that the BDBL is going to open 10 more branches this year while 60 agent-banking and sub branches would be opened at the union level and remote areas as part of its financial inclusion initiative.
