Bangladesh Bank plans to offer special incentives for private banks that would disburse large sums of loans to the agriculture sector & women entrepreneurs, the Bangladesh Bank governor said in Dhaka. Additionally, banks that would not disburse adequate loans to those sectors, as instructed by the Bangladesh Bank, would be discredited, Dr Atiur Rahman told a seminar on "Budget Aspiration For Women Entrepreneurs 2009-10". Mr. Rahman said, "We want to disburse loans to women entrepreneurs & some other areas as tools for the CAMEL (capital, asset, management, earning & liquidity) rating for banks. So the banks that would not follow instructions would have poor rating scores". Bangladesh Bank will increase its vigilance on the poor performers in the CAMAL rating, he added. To increase the share of women in the upcoming budget for 2009-10, he also suggested women entrepreneurs persuade the government to creat scopes for them in the budget, especially in Public Private Partnerships. In the discussion, the Bangladesh Women's Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BWCCI) urged the government to make a special allocation of Tk 100 core for women entrepreneurs to facilitate them. BWCCI organised the seminar. "A country can't develop if 25% of its entrepreneurs aren't women. As women entrepreneurs lack adequate liquidity & banking support, it's vital to allocate separate funds for them" said Selima Ahmed president of BWCCI. Sharing her experience on obtaining a bank loan, Rahela Pervin Shishir an entrepreneur in the printing sector said, "When I approached a bank after the Bangladesh Bank instruction on funding women entrepreneurs, the bank officials told me that a bank would not be regulate by the central bank, but rather by its board of directors". Speaking at the function, Tarana Ahmed proprietor of CNG World, urged the government to provide loans to women entrepreneurs against work orders.
---DAILY STAR
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