Bank interest rates to be reduced in rationale way; Kamal

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DHAKA, April 25, 2019 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today said that the bank interest rates would be brought down in a rationale way.

He said 14,15 and 16 percent interest rates are not in place anywhere in the world, but the businessmen in Bangladesh have to pay such interest rates to run their businesses.

“This interest rate will be brought down at a rationale way for the sake of the common people and the businessmen,” he said.

The finance minister said this while holding a pre-budget meeting with the Sompadok Parishad, Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) and the NGOs representatives at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Mentioning that the development of a country is not possible without the businessmen, Kamal said that steps would be taken to help those who have become loan defaulters unintentionally over the years.

Besides, measures will also be taken to bring the intentional loan defaulters to book. “We’ll make such arrangements so that both sides are benefitted and there are differences between these two groups,”

He informed that in order to bring discipline in the banking sector, steps have been taken to frame the Insolvency Act, side by side Asset Management Company will be formed to recover the bad loans.

The finance minister said special measures have been taken in order to check laundering of money abroad through fake import and export invoices.

He said export and import operations would be carried out through thorough scanning so that no illegal operation could take place.

Noting that there are two sides in the country’s capital market which are Lion and the cubs of goat, Kamal said if such situation continues, it will not work through injecting more than Taka 50,000 crore or Taka 5 lakh crore.

He said that there would be some stimulus measures for the share market in the upcoming budget which is promoting a quarter to be profit monger.

The finance minister also suggested the small investors not to enter the share market without properly understanding the market fundamentals.

Noting that share market is very intensely connected with the economy of the country, he said that development in the capital market would be unleashed in line with the country’s economic development.

He also assured that all sorts of measures would be taken so that there is no fragile condition created over the share market and the investors are not feared to make investment.

Kamal said the country would witness massive industrialization over the next five years while building skilled Human Resources would also get priority in the next year.

During the meeting, Bangladesh Sompadok Parishad demanded of the government to withdraw 15 percent VAT on newsprint being used in this industry side by side reducing their corporate tax at 10 percent.

Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder and other high officials were present.