Poorest people pay highest interest for loans: Governor

Staff Correspondent: The poorest people in the country have to pay the highest interest against loans, says Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder.
He made the remarks while addressing a workshop organised by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) as the chief guest yesterday.
The workshop was held to mark the publication of a report titled “Microfinance in Bangladesh (Annual Statistics)” at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.
The governor said, “Around Tk900 crore in loans is being disbursed via microcredit every day. We are charging the highest interest rates from the poorest who take these loans.”
He urged the authorities concerned to think whether charging high interests is ethical or not.
“We now have to reduce the use of cash. Binimoy, an interoperable digital transaction platform (IDTP), was launched on Sunday.
“With its introduction, transactions can now be made among MFSs. We want to create a cashless society within the next five years. We want mobile phones to become our credit cards and banks.”
After the speech, the central bank boss inaugurated four new e-services – MRA library automation, e-clipping, e-archiving and MRA info.
Financial Institutions Division Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah spoke at the programme as the special guest.
MRA Executive Vice Chairman Md Fasiullah presided over the workshop while Executive Director Laxman Chandra Debnath delivered the welcome speech.
MRA Director Mohammad Yakub Hossain gave a detailed presentation on the content of the workshop.