Donate 5% of CSR to PM’s education trust

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has directed the scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) to donate 5 per cent of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to the Prime Minister’s Educational Assistance Trust Fund.

The central bank’s Sustainable Finance Department issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday.

It said that 5 per cent of the CSR budget, determined on the basis of the net profit based on December 31 of the previous year, will be deposited in the education assistance fund’s bank account within May 30 of the respective year.

The circular also said that the prime minister’s trust fund is playing a role in  building human resources for a developed and prosperous Bangladesh by continuing the educational lives of talented students from poor families.

The amount from the CSR funds of the banks and NBFIs will play a positive role in increasing the size of the prime minister’s trust fund, the circular added.

According to BB guidelines, banks and NBFIs can spend 30 per cent of their total CSR budget on education, 30 per cent on health, 20 per cent on the environment and climate change, and the remaining 20 per cent on disaster management, infrastructure development, sports, culture and other sectors.

Between January and June this year, banks have spent a total of Tk 629 crore in the CSR sector. Islami Bank spent the highest Tk 202 crore.

On the other hand, the amount NBFIs spent was Tk 4.36 crore. Of them, the Infrastructure Development Company and IDLC Finance spent the highest — Tk 1 crore each.