IFC to help increase access to finance in light engineering sector
Sunday, 2 December 2007
FE Report
The IFC advisory services for South Asia -- South Asia Enterprise Dev Facility -- is committed to assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the light engineering sector of Bangladesh to achieve growth and competitiveness.
One key obstacle the SMEs face is lack of finance. To help them overcome this constraint, the IFC brought together key stakeholders from the industry and the financial sector to form a Core Group which would guide the financial sector and the Bangladeshi government to provide suitable policy and funding assistance to the sector.
Commerce Ministry Joint Secretary and Business Promotion Council Coordinator Ghulam Hossain acted as convener for the first 'Core Group' meeting at the IFC office recently.
Among the issues which were discussed at the inaugural meeting were the need to set up a lease registry to encourage financing of moveable assets and the need to revise the upper limit for collateral-free loans. The possibility of introducing operating lease in the country was also discussed.
BRAC Enterprises Managing Director and ex-DG of BB Rumee Ali and adviser to the Core Group presented some recommendations at a seminar held in June.
He said: "Setting clear short-term and long-term goals will help us take our strategy to the implementation level."
Kamaluddin of BUET Institute of Appropriate Technology expressed his hope that more sophisticated financing sources such as seed and venture finance would also emerge to address the finance needs of light engineering SMEs.
The deliberations of the Core Group are expected to result in suggestions to relevant government departments and ministries on how more finance can be made accessible to light engineering SMEs and even SMEs in other sector.
The IFC advisory services for South Asia -- South Asia Enterprise Dev Facility -- is committed to assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the light engineering sector of Bangladesh to achieve growth and competitiveness.
One key obstacle the SMEs face is lack of finance. To help them overcome this constraint, the IFC brought together key stakeholders from the industry and the financial sector to form a Core Group which would guide the financial sector and the Bangladeshi government to provide suitable policy and funding assistance to the sector.
Commerce Ministry Joint Secretary and Business Promotion Council Coordinator Ghulam Hossain acted as convener for the first 'Core Group' meeting at the IFC office recently.
Among the issues which were discussed at the inaugural meeting were the need to set up a lease registry to encourage financing of moveable assets and the need to revise the upper limit for collateral-free loans. The possibility of introducing operating lease in the country was also discussed.
BRAC Enterprises Managing Director and ex-DG of BB Rumee Ali and adviser to the Core Group presented some recommendations at a seminar held in June.
He said: "Setting clear short-term and long-term goals will help us take our strategy to the implementation level."
Kamaluddin of BUET Institute of Appropriate Technology expressed his hope that more sophisticated financing sources such as seed and venture finance would also emerge to address the finance needs of light engineering SMEs.
The deliberations of the Core Group are expected to result in suggestions to relevant government departments and ministries on how more finance can be made accessible to light engineering SMEs and even SMEs in other sector.