3:11 AM
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman has suggested constant revision and strengthening of environmental risk management policy to ensure a sustainable financial system.
The governor in his keynote speech at 'Regional Dissemination Forum on Green Financing' also recommended focusing on greening the SME credit policy, and ensuring adequate financing facilities for alternative power generation options, reports BSS.
The central bank with support from Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) organised the programme at a city hotel on Sunday.
'I believe with our concerted efforts towards building an environmentally sustainable green economy, we will be well positioned to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations well ahead of time as we did int case of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),' Dr Atiur said.
He said for ingraining the 'green' or sustainability into agriculture, the BB has taken a diverse policy and funding initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture.
For instance, he said, channeling refinance to solar irrigation pump, vermicompost, bio-fertilizer, biogas, organic farming, saline, drought- and flood-resistant seed varieties, rooftop gardening; granting fund from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to conservation of wildlife, forestation of coastal region, natural crop-reservoir (cold-storage) have really brought the financial sector to line up agricultural financing with 'green' practices.
Another element of BB's initiative of mainstreaming socially responsible inclusive financing is the promotion of financial sector's CSR engagements in community development, Dr Atiur said.
Accordingly, the governor said, the central bank directed all banks and non-bank financial institutions to allocate at least 10.0 percent of their CSR funds in the climate risk-prone areas.
Refinance windows, available at the BB, also provide low-cost credit facilities for environmentally-benign "green" output options. Idle cash surpluses of Shariah-based banks and financial institutions have also been inducted into new refinance lines to support SME and green financing.
Secretary General of APRACA Chamnong Siriwongyotha, BB deputy governor and chairman of APRACA Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury, chief financial officer of BRAC and BRAC International Shib Narayan Kairy also addressed the programme.
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