Governor asks banks to accelerate productive investment

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman on Tuesday suggested the chief executives of all scheduled banks to accelerate their investment in productive sectors, which he said would help boost export and domestic demand, BSS reports.

Addressing the monthly bankers` meeting at the central bank headquarters in the capital city, the governor noted that higher export and vibrant domestic demand would drive the country to its target for higher growth while investment in more productive sector would help rise export earning and domestic demand.

"In terms of macro-strategy and given our growth aspirations, we need to upgrade our export performance. At the same time, we can and should add an extra engine to our export-led growth model.

That engine is our domestic demand, which, fortunately, can leverage our demographics, market size, and population density," he said.

The governor suggested the bankers take a `critical role` to ensure that the national savings rise and are then channeled to their most productive and equitable usages, not to the privileged bidders.

He said the past 2015 brought a milestone for Bangladesh when the country attained the lower middle income status. Now, "we want 2016 be the year of growth and investment".

He also said at current momentum and with right reform, Bangladesh could easily be transformed from a $200 billion economy to over $500 billion economy before 2025.

"If we work hard and together, we can upgrade our growth to 8.0 percent trajectory. Our financial system is now around $150 billion, which has reached a critical mass to support the needed improvement in efficiency and innovation," Dr Rahman said.

The governor assured the bankers of Bangladesh Bank`s support to serve the savers and the borrowers through better intermediation service, governance, and transparency.