'Participatory' monetary policy for inclusive growth on the cards
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Siddique Islam
Bangladesh Bank (BB) is working on formulating a more comprehensive and participatory monetary policy for the first half of next fiscal to achieve higher economic growth, the central bank governor said.
"We're trying to establish a participatory and prudent monetary policy framework to achieve an inclusive economic growth," BB Governor Atiur Rahman told the FE in an exclusive interview Thursday.
The central bank chief said an inhouse policy committee has already been formed to brainstorm on monetary policy issues each month and review different indicators including the trend of opening letters of credit (LCs) for imports and inflationary pressures on the economy.
"This exercise is strengthening the capacity of the central bank in formulating monetary policy, which is the key activity of the BB," Dr. Rahman said, adding that the central bank has taken an initiative to continuously monitor the monetary policy.
He said the central bank has also planned to establish a link between its research department and think-tanks aiming to introduce a knowledge-based decision making process to formulate the monetary policy.
On January 19 this year, the central bank unveiled an inclusive half-yearly monetary policy that, it hoped, would help attain higher economic growth and keep inflationary pressure under control.
The first-ever monetary policy statement was formally published in January 2006 and the central bank declared that it would publish it on a half-yearly basis along with a half-yearly policy review.
Dr. Rahman took over as the central bank governor on May 3 last year.
"The next year will be a year of implementation of polices and automation," the BB governor said while speaking about his next year's plans and programmes.
About digital Bangladesh Bank, he said all preparations have already been completed to introduce e-tendering system, for the first time, in the central bank.
"We'll commence a web based e-tendering process soon, which will cover announcement of tender, distribution of schedules and bidding to ensure simplicity and transparency of tendering process," he noted.
He also said the central bank has planed to introduce electronic fund transfer process on a trial basis by the end of this calendar year. "The central bank will also work for e-payment gateway in the near future," he added.
The central bank boss said there will be automation of all the accounts with the BB, foreign exchange management, currency management, treasury and security systems, public debt management and also establishment of a central depository system (CDS) to build a platform for secondary trading of treasury bills and bonds.
"Enterprise data warehouse creates an electronic data bank, which will provide all information and statistics of monetary, trade and fiscal areas of the national economy, where all the concerned people of the BB will have access to use it for further policy analysis," Dr. Rahman added.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) is working on formulating a more comprehensive and participatory monetary policy for the first half of next fiscal to achieve higher economic growth, the central bank governor said.
"We're trying to establish a participatory and prudent monetary policy framework to achieve an inclusive economic growth," BB Governor Atiur Rahman told the FE in an exclusive interview Thursday.
The central bank chief said an inhouse policy committee has already been formed to brainstorm on monetary policy issues each month and review different indicators including the trend of opening letters of credit (LCs) for imports and inflationary pressures on the economy.
"This exercise is strengthening the capacity of the central bank in formulating monetary policy, which is the key activity of the BB," Dr. Rahman said, adding that the central bank has taken an initiative to continuously monitor the monetary policy.
He said the central bank has also planned to establish a link between its research department and think-tanks aiming to introduce a knowledge-based decision making process to formulate the monetary policy.
On January 19 this year, the central bank unveiled an inclusive half-yearly monetary policy that, it hoped, would help attain higher economic growth and keep inflationary pressure under control.
The first-ever monetary policy statement was formally published in January 2006 and the central bank declared that it would publish it on a half-yearly basis along with a half-yearly policy review.
Dr. Rahman took over as the central bank governor on May 3 last year.
"The next year will be a year of implementation of polices and automation," the BB governor said while speaking about his next year's plans and programmes.
About digital Bangladesh Bank, he said all preparations have already been completed to introduce e-tendering system, for the first time, in the central bank.
"We'll commence a web based e-tendering process soon, which will cover announcement of tender, distribution of schedules and bidding to ensure simplicity and transparency of tendering process," he noted.
He also said the central bank has planed to introduce electronic fund transfer process on a trial basis by the end of this calendar year. "The central bank will also work for e-payment gateway in the near future," he added.
The central bank boss said there will be automation of all the accounts with the BB, foreign exchange management, currency management, treasury and security systems, public debt management and also establishment of a central depository system (CDS) to build a platform for secondary trading of treasury bills and bonds.
"Enterprise data warehouse creates an electronic data bank, which will provide all information and statistics of monetary, trade and fiscal areas of the national economy, where all the concerned people of the BB will have access to use it for further policy analysis," Dr. Rahman added.