Home ›› 28 Nov 2022 ›› Front
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday instructed to inform her about the current situation of Bangladesh’s banking sector.
She gave the instruction during the Secretaries’ Committee Meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told UNB.
Regarding the banking sector, the Cabinet Secretary said the issue was discussed indirectly at the meeting and instructions were given to the Banking and Finance Division.
“There’s a lot of talk (over the banking sector), let us know what the real scenario is soon,” the cabinet secretary quoted the prime minister to have said.
About recent events concerning Islami Bank, Khandker Anwarul said some “outsiders” are talking about the state of some banks on YouTube. “Yet, this was not neglected in the meeting. This issue will be looked into as well.”
Keep food reserve above 15 lakh tonnes
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given directives to secretaries to keep the county’s food reserve above 15 lakh metric tonnes, said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, adds BSS.
“The country has 16 lakh tonnes of food reserve now. Necessary measures should be taken so that food reserve does not go down below 15 lakh metric tons,” he said.
The cabinet secretary said the prime minister also gave directives as various food-friendly programmes like open market sales (OMS), vulnerable group development (VGD), vulnerable group feeding (VGF) and Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) are operated properly.
He said from now government employees will not have to provide asset statements separately to the government any more.
Now they will have to provide only the asset statement, which they have to give on a single page during the submission of income tax return, to the Public Administration Ministry, he mentioned.
National Board of Revenue has also no objection in the matter, he said, adding that now circular will be issued to this end.
Many countries seek Bangladesh’s support like Sri Lanka
The prime minister also shared that after helping Sri Lanka with currency swap, many countries communicated with her to get the same kind of assistance from Bangladesh, according to UNB report.
“We have assisted Sri Lanka from our (forex) reserve. After that, I have received requests from many countries,” she said.
In May 2021, Bangladesh cleared a $200 million currency swap for Sri Lanka, to help boost its economy.
It was the first-ever loan to any country from Bangladesh, given under the currency swap agreement inked by Bangladesh Bank and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, on August 3.
“Many government heads have called me and I have talked to them. I have described to them the ground reality. We are formulating our budget, taking budgetary support from other sources. At this time, it will not be possible for us to give any kind of assistance,” she said.
She mentioned that it means many countries across the globe are facing forex reserve crisis.
“... We must practice austerity with urgency,” she said.
