Weekly News Clippings (December 6)

WB sits with ERD Sunday to review fund spending in 46 projects (The Financial Express, December 6, 2012)

The WB has appointed Manusher Jonno Foundation to evaluate utilization of WB assistance money in Bangladesh.   Under the current Bangladesh Country Assistance Strategy there are 46 WB funded projects worth close to US$5 billion.  Four of these projects are considered “risky and problematic” due to  implementation problems, including a $257 million investment promotion and financing facility project, a $130.7 million secondary education quality & access enhancement project, a $67.20 million budget and financial capability project, and a $35 million disability-and-children-at-risk project.  Another fifteen projects are lagging in loan disbursements. 

FICCI for exclusive economic zone in Bangladesh  (The Financial Express, December 5, 2012)

A roundtable on investment opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs in Bangladesh was organised by FBCCI and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry as part of the three day India Show.  Bangladesh could benefit enormously by attracting FDI from India and increasing exports to the country.  The speakers discussed several ideas including offering visa facilities, improving transportation infrastructure, reducing non-tariff barriers, and setting up an export processing zone exclusively for Indian companies.   

BRAC Bank SME lending crosses Tk 5,000cr mark (The New Age, December 5, 2012)

The CEO of BRAC Bank said that the bank’s SME credit portfolio is now over Tk 5,000 crore.  SME financing makes up over 50% of the banks portfolio and most of these loans are collateral free.  In related news, Bangladesh Bank (with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency) has started a Tk 415 crore-refinancing-scheme to provide easy loans to SME entrepreneurs via banks like BRAC. 

SME Foundation, Trust Bank's fund for women entrepreneurs (The Daily Star, December 2, 2012)

The SME Foundation will provide Tk 3 crore to Trust Bank at 9 percent interest to provide loans to women entrepreneurs at the nakshikantha cluster in Jessore and the three hill districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari.

Labor rights group presses for binding safety agreement (The Daily Star, November 30, 2012)

To prevent fire accident prevalent in many of the garment factory in Bangladesh, “International labor rights group Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) called for international pressure on Bangladeshi garment makers and buyers to get them to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety (BFBS) agreement.”  The agreement would open garment factories to independent fire safety inspections and bind brands to only work with suppliers who permit such inspections. 

BGMEA wakes up, but slowly  (The Daily Star, November 30, 2012)

After some delay BGMEA formed a taskforce that “will give factory owners a deadline to upgrade their fire safety measures.” The president of the association said that all factories, whether they are BGMEA members or not, will come under the purview. At the meeting several garment owners suggested that they would be willing to bear the expenses of the families of the fire victims for the next 10 years.