BB\\\'s role praised at IEA World Congress

Dead Sea (Jordan), June 8:  The role of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has been appreciated at the 17th World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA) for its ongoing financial inclusion and development finance campaigns to confront multiple challenges.
The appreciation was made at a discussion on 'Coherence between Macro and Industrial Policy Objectives: Lessons for Developing Countries,' held at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea, Jordan on Saturday.
The discussion was organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) as part of the ongoing World Congress of the IEA that began on Friday aiming at promoting interaction of prominent economists towards gaining a truly world perspective on issues of global importance.
The session was chaired by Dr. Hamid Rashid, senior advisor for macroeconomic policy of the UNDESA.
 "With fiscal policy in the US and Europe paralysed by political opposition, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England to some extent have been engaged in monetary experimentation - as it often happens when economies find themselves in the jaws of a crisis," University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of economics Gerald Epstein said while presenting his paper at the discussion.
And likewise, central banks in other parts of the world, from Bangladesh to China and elsewhere, there has been a revival of experimental central banking to confront the multiple challenges that we face, the US senior professor noted.
Mentioning developmental central banking in Bangladesh and recent reforms and achievements from 2009 to 2012, Prof. Epstein said the BB is mandated by its charter to promote and maintain a high level of output, employment and real income, fostering growth and development of the country's productive resources along with preserving monetary and financial stability.
 "First, its financial inclusion and developmental finance campaign tries to engage the private financial sector to help reach underserved households and businesses with both banking services and credit to help generate employment, investment and growth," he explained.
"Second, it tries to promote financial stability by helping to channel credit away from destabilising activities and toward productive investments. Thus, the BB has charted a course of engaging the private financial sector in pursuit of a norm of 'social responsibility' in which developmental central banking and policies to further 'financial inclusion' also promote financial and economic stability," he noted.
Among others, Ha Joon Chang of the Cambridge University and Jinho Choi, economist at the Bank of Korea, spoke on the occasion.
Talking to the FE, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) Director Prof. Dr. Shah Md. Ahsan Habib said the central bank has remained proactive in its developmental role. The policies and measures which have been undertaken so far in Bangladesh in the context of developmental and inclusive banking have already started creating positive impacts, he pointed out.
 "In recent years, several incentives like refinance lines and limited interest subsidies have been made available to promote lending to farmers, small enterprises and poor households," Dr. Habib noted.
He also said more or less all banks that are in operation in the country, local and foreign, private and state-controlled, have come forward in the financial inclusion drive in response to the BB's initiatives.
Because of the remarkable pro-poor initiatives of the central bank, a recent issue of the China Daily Asia termed the Bangladesh Bank governor as 'Poor Man's Governor'.