BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has unveiled its growth-supportive monetary policy aiming to create more employment opportunities through boosting investment particularly in productive sectors.
“It’s a growth supportive and stability focused monetary policy,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Fazle Kabir said while formally announcing the monetary policy statement (MPS) for the July-December period of the ongoing fiscal year (FY) 2017-18 at a press conference held at the BB headquarters in the capital on Wednesday.
The central bank chief believes that the projected credit flow particularly to the private sector will be able to achieve 7.4 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) growth by the end of this fiscal.
#BangladeshBankGovernor #Fazle Kabir flanked by BB high officials poses for a photo session on occasion of unveiling #MonetaryPolicy for the July-December period of the FY 2017-18 after a press conference held at the BB headquarters in Dhaka on July 26, 2017. Photo: Bangladesh Bank
The private-sector-credit growth target has been fixed at 16.2 per cent and 16.3 per cent for December 2017 and June 2018 respectively, according to the new MPS for the first-half (H1) of the FY 18.
The BB has set the latest private sector credit growth target taking into account the credit growth in May this year, not the earlier target for June 2017, Faisal Ahmed, chief economist of the central bank, explained.
The growth in credit flow to private sector came down to 16 per cent in May 2017 on a year-on-year basis from 16.21 per cent a month ago. It was 16.06 per cent in March 2017.
The last MPS for the second half (H2) of the last fiscal year had set a target for the private-sector-credit growth at 16.50 per cent at the end of June 2017.
The policy rates remained unchanged in the MPS but it may change over time depending on evolving the overall macroeconomic environment, according to the BB governor.
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