Country on track to increase financial inclusion: Experts

Bangladesh is on track to increase financial inclusion through digitalisation, access to credit, and green banking in different ways, experts told a webinar on Saturday.

They said more financial literacy is needed to bring more people under financial inclusion in the country.

During the webinar on financial inclusion, they also gave guidelines on how to increase financial inclusion in order to decrease inequality.

Executive Director (PRL) of the Bangladesh Bank Md Mostafizur Rahman Sarder praised the role of the central bank in taking different steps for financial inclusion in the country, describing it as helpful for economic progress.

Macro and financial economist Prof Dr Muhammad Mahboob Ali, who was the session chair, said unbanked people need to be aware of gradual financial inclusion with accessibility.

He said there must be a balance between agent banking deposit and investment so that equity consideration and growth with equity of the current government could be felt.

The speakers said financial inclusion is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the betterment of the downtrodden people in the banked scenario.

Dr Yashoda Krishna Durge of the GNVS Institute of Management in India talked about individual perceptions of initial public offerings in her country, saying investors look at the profiles of promoters and sector performances.

Lower-income groups depend on electronic media while the upper-income ones depend on financial experts, she further said. The Entrepreneurial Economists club of the Dhaka School of Economics congratulated the second batch of the Bachelor of Entrepreneurial Economics at the programme where Anis A Khan, former managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, was the chief guest and keynote presenter.