DHAKA, March 2, 2020 (BSS) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed
its keen interest to support Bangladesh in issuing local currency bond and
helping to curb the Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in the banking sector.
Ingrid Van Wees, vice-president for Finance and Risk Management of the
Asian Development Bank (ADB), showed the interest when she along with
Manmohan Parkash, ADB country director for Bangladesh, met Finance Minister
AHM Mustafa Kamal at his ERD office in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area
today, said a press release.
Ingrid Van Wees congratulated Kamal for being the Best Finance Minister
(Global and Asia Pacific) for the year 2020 according to The Banker of
Financial Times, UK.
She also appreciated the socio-economic development that took place in
Bangladesh in the last one decade.
The ADB country director in Bangladesh assured that ADB will be supportive
in favour of the policy formulated by the Ministry of Finance, regarding
reducing NPLs and making the financial sector better.
In response, Kamal urged them for becoming partner of Bangladesh in newly
identified different windows of economic development instead of lending only.
Welcoming the delegate, he informed them about the present economic
development that is taking place under the prudent leadership of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Mentioning that Bangladesh is now considered as a role model of development
for other countries, the Finance Minister elaborated how the economy has
become a lower-middle income country and eligible for being a developing
country through inclusive development policies adopted from the economic
ideology of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The minister apprised the delegation of the celebration of birth centenary
of Bangabandhu.
Kamal also thanked ADB for their continuous support towards achieving the
developmental milestones of Bangladesh. Its total support to Bangladesh
stands at about US$25.143 billion. So far, the development assistances of ADB
mainly focuses on power, energy, local government, transport, education,
agriculture, water resources and good governance and financial sectors of
Bangladesh.
He mentioned that the government has been working to maintain the
macroeconomic fundamentals to a subtle and robust level with consistent
economic growth and contained inflation, which in return will be helpful for
a stable financial and capital market in the near future.
The Finance Minister further informed that the untapped areas of the
economic sector are yet to be exploited by the domestic and foreign
investors, which has great potentials as being a neighbor of fast growing two
giant economies cum markets, namely, China and India.