Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir on Saturday said the banking sector is currently facing big challenges of inflation and unstable forex exchange rate in the post Covid-19 period.
“A huge trade deficit has been created due to these reasons. To deal with this, not only Bangladesh Bank, but also all the government and the private commercial banks have to work collectively,” he said.
Fazle Kabir said this while addressing the Al-Arafah Islami Bank Scholarship Awarding Ceremony as the chief guest at the Officers’ Club in Dhaka.
“We have imposed a number of restrictions on imports and if we refrain from importing luxury goods at this moment, it will reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange reserves,” he said.
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“In the case of LC (letter of credit) open, we have given some margins to comply with them. We are providing dollars directly from the central bank's reserves to ease the crisis. It will continue. Besides, we have been given the opportunity to import necessary products including food, baby food, fertiliser, fuel and electricity, and other products. We are discouraging import of products that are not very necessary,” Fazle Kabid added.
Al-Arafah Islami Bank Chairman Salim Rahman presided over the function. Managing Director and CEO of the bank Farman R Chowdhury, members of the board of directors, senior officials, scholarship recipient students and parents were also present on the occasion.
Under its Social Responsibility Programme, Al-Arafah Islami Bank provided scholarships to 200 meritorious students who have passed HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) and equivalent examinations in 2019.
