Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh has been undergoing a virtuous cycle of innovations and inclusion, thanks to an environment of light-touch regulation for encouraging policy experimentation.
Dr. Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) said this at an international seminar at the Institute of Innovation Research of Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo on Thursday.
Chaired by Professor Seiichiro Yonekura, the seminar was also participated by Professor Abu Eusuf, from Dhaka University and other teachers and students of the Hitotsubashi University, according to a message received in Dhaka from Japan.
Dr. Rahman also said that ensuring growth with equity has now become the prime challenge for the policy makers as the country recently has achieved the lower-middle income status.
“With a view to attaining this objective of Bangladesh Government, the country’s central bank has been striving to improve monetary transmission channels; to promote macro-financial stability through inclusion; and to induce directional bias towards more productive and sustainable activities,” he explained.
The end result has been a stunning macroeconomic stability with significant outcome of inclusive finance, he added.
The former governor also pointed out that- to attain universal access to finance there has to be genuine drives to include the excluded or vulnerable groups and sectors, often exposed to income, wealth, and climate change shocks; minimizing of marginalization and vulnerabilities amid transitions; and leveraging technology for the reach sustainability of the inclusion initiatives undertaken.
“In many ways, Bangladesh has been the ‘Silicon Valley’ of pro-poor financial innovation, embracing and empowering people at the base of pyramid,” Dr. Rahman noted.
He also highlighted the innovative linkage programs between the financial sector and the micro-finance institutions for accelerating financial inclusion.
BBN/SSR/AD