Crop damage won't affect country's economy: Aziz
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam relegated Aman to an insignificant crop and said this crop damage in the calamity would not affect county's economy, reports UNB.
"Cyclone SIDR damaged Aman crop, but this crop is not a significant crop for Bangladesh," he told newsmen Monday after his meeting with high officials of different state-run banks for a review of overall financing, loan disbursement and loan collection of the commercial banks and agricultural banks at the finance ministry.
Further giving his usual unorthodox thoughts on economy, trade and business, the finance adviser of the caretaker government said even total crop sector is not a major issue for total economy.
"The agriculture-GDP ratio of the country is not more than 22 percent. In that percentage there are so many things like livestock and fisheries," said Dr Aziz, the former chief of the stock-market watchdog SEC.
He observed that from his point of view, the devastating cyclone would not cast any big impact on the national economy. "I think that we can recover the damage, and for this, there will be monetary injection like loan and aid into the rural economy," he said.
About any pressure on the economy from the fallout of the cyclone SIDR, which ripped through southwestern coastal districts, the adviser said it is too early to say anything about this matter.
The adviser asked the banks to re-schedule the credits that have been taken by the cyclone-affected people and also directed the bankers to disburse fresh loans to those who already took loans after the last cataclysmic floods.
Responding to questions, he said that the loans would not be free of interest. "It would be too early to say anything about government plan for waiver of interest on the loans," he said.
In the meeting, the Adviser asked the state-run commercial banks, which have recently been converted to public limited companies, to raise their capital as they have deficit in it.
"Cyclone SIDR damaged Aman crop, but this crop is not a significant crop for Bangladesh," he told newsmen Monday after his meeting with high officials of different state-run banks for a review of overall financing, loan disbursement and loan collection of the commercial banks and agricultural banks at the finance ministry.
Further giving his usual unorthodox thoughts on economy, trade and business, the finance adviser of the caretaker government said even total crop sector is not a major issue for total economy.
"The agriculture-GDP ratio of the country is not more than 22 percent. In that percentage there are so many things like livestock and fisheries," said Dr Aziz, the former chief of the stock-market watchdog SEC.
He observed that from his point of view, the devastating cyclone would not cast any big impact on the national economy. "I think that we can recover the damage, and for this, there will be monetary injection like loan and aid into the rural economy," he said.
About any pressure on the economy from the fallout of the cyclone SIDR, which ripped through southwestern coastal districts, the adviser said it is too early to say anything about this matter.
The adviser asked the banks to re-schedule the credits that have been taken by the cyclone-affected people and also directed the bankers to disburse fresh loans to those who already took loans after the last cataclysmic floods.
Responding to questions, he said that the loans would not be free of interest. "It would be too early to say anything about government plan for waiver of interest on the loans," he said.
In the meeting, the Adviser asked the state-run commercial banks, which have recently been converted to public limited companies, to raise their capital as they have deficit in it.