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Bangladesh-The Banking System





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Bangladesh Index

The banking system at independence consisted of two branch offices of the former State Bank of Pakistan and seventeen large commercial banks, two of which were controlled by Bangladeshi interests and three by foreigners other than West Pakistanis. There were fourteen smaller commercial banks. Virtually all banking services were concentrated in urban areas. The newly independent government immediately designated the Dhaka branch of the State Bank of Pakistan as the central bank and renamed it the Bangladesh Bank. The bank was responsible for regulating currency, controlling credit and monetary policy, and administering exchange control and the official foreign exchange reserves. The Bangladesh government initially nationalized the entire domestic banking system and proceeded to reorganize and rename the various banks. Foreign-owned banks were permitted to continue doing business in Bangladesh. The insurance business was also nationalized and became a source of potential investment funds. Cooperative credit systems and postal savings offices handled service to small individual and rural accounts. The new banking system succeeded in establishing reasonably efficient procedures for managing credit and foreign exchange. The primary function of the credit system throughout the 1970s was to finance trade and the public sector, which together absorbed 75 percent of total advances.

The government's encouragement during the late 1970s and early 1980s of agricultural development and private industry brought changes in lending strategies. Managed by the Bangladesh Krishi Bank, a specialized agricultural banking institution, lending to farmers and fishermen dramatically expanded. The number of rural bank branches doubled between 1977 and 1985, to more than 3,330. Denationalization and private industrial growth led the Bangladesh Bank and the World Bank to focus their lending on the emerging private manufacturing sector. Scheduled bank advances to private agriculture, as a percentage of sectoral GDP, rose from 2 percent in FY 1979 to 11 percent in FY 1987, while advances to private manufacturing rose from 13 percent to 53 percent.

The transformation of finance priorities has brought with it problems in administration. No sound project-appraisal system was in place to identify viable borrowers and projects. Lending institutions did not have adequate autonomy to choose borrowers and projects and were often instructed by the political authorities. In addition, the incentive system for the banks stressed disbursements rather than recoveries, and the accounting and debt collection systems were inadequate to deal with the problems of loan recovery. It became more common for borrowers to default on loans than to repay them; the lending system was simply disbursing grant assistance to private individuals who qualified for loans more for political than for economic reasons. The rate of recovery on agricultural loans was only 27 percent in FY 1986, and the rate on industrial loans was even worse. As a result of this poor showing, major donors applied pressure to induce the government and banks to take firmer action to strengthen internal bank management and credit discipline. As a consequence, recovery rates began to improve in 1987. The National Commission on Money, Credit, and Banking recommended broad structural changes in Bangladesh's system of financial intermediation early in 1987, many of which were built into a three-year compensatory financing facility signed by Bangladesh with the IMF in February 1987.

One major exception to the management problems of Bangladeshi banks was the Grameen Bank, begun as a government project in 1976 and established in 1983 as an independent bank. In the late 1980s, the bank continued to provide financial resources to the poor on reasonable terms and to generate productive self-employment without external assistance. Its customers were landless persons who took small loans for all types of economic activities, including housing. About 70 percent of the borrowers were women, who were otherwise not much represented in institutional finance. Collective rural enterprises also could borrow from the Grameen Bank for investments in tube wells, rice and oil mills, and power looms and for leasing land for joint cultivation. The average loan by the Grameen Bank in the mid-1980s was around Tk2,000 (US$65), and the maximum was just Tk18,000 (for construction of a tin-roof house). Repayment terms were 4 percent for rural housing and 8.5 percent for normal lending operations.

The Grameen Bank extended collateral-free loans to 200,000 landless people in its first 10 years. Most of its customers had never dealt with formal lending institutions before. The most remarkable accomplishment was the phenomenal recovery rate; amid the prevailing pattern of bad debts throughout the Bangladeshi banking system, only 4 percent of Grameen Bank loans were overdue. The bank had from the outset applied a specialized system of intensive credit supervision that set it apart from others. Its success, though still on a rather small scale, provided hope that it could continue to grow and that it could be replicated or adapted to other development-related priorities. The Grameen Bank was expanding rapidly, planning to have 500 branches throughout the country by the late 1980s.

Beginning in late 1985, the government pursued a tight monetary policy aimed at limiting the growth of domestic private credit and government borrowing from the banking system. The policy was largely successful in reducing the growth of the money supply and total domestic credit. Net credit to the government actually declined in FY 1986. The problem of credit recovery remained a threat to monetary stability, responsible for serious resource misallocation and harsh inequities. Although the government had begun effective measures to improve financial discipline, the draconian contraction of credit availability contained the risk of inadvertently discouraging new economic activity.

Foreign exchange reserves at the end of FY 1986 were US$476 million, equivalent to slightly more than 2 months worth of imports. This represented a 20-percent increase of reserves over the previous year, largely the result of higher remittances by Bangladeshi workers abroad. The country also reduced imports by about 10 percent to US$2.4 billion. Because of Bangladesh's status as a least developed country receiving concessional loans, private creditors accounted for only about 6 percent of outstanding public debt. The external public debt was US$6.4 billion, and annual debt service payments were US$467 million at the end of FY 1986.

Data as of September 1988



BackgroundEuropeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India. In 1947, West Pakistan and East Bengal (both primarily Muslim) separated from India (largely Hindu) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955, but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied. East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh. A military-backed, emergency caretaker regime suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption. In contrast to the strikes and violent street rallies that had marked Bangladeshi politics in previous years, the parliamentary elections finally held in late December 2008 were mostly peaceful and Sheikh HASINA Wajed was reelected prime minister. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.
LocationSouthern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
Area(sq km)total: 143,998 sq km
land: 130,168 sq km
water: 13,830 sq km
Geographic coordinates24 00 N, 90 00 E
Land boundaries(km)total: 4,246 km
border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km

Coastline(km)580 km

Climatetropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)

Elevation extremes(m)lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m
Natural resourcesnatural gas, arable land, timber, coal
Land use(%)arable land: 55.39%
permanent crops: 3.08%
other: 41.53% (2005)

Irrigated land(sq km)47,250 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources(cu km)1,210.6 cu km (1999)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)total: 79.4 cu km/yr (3%/1%/96%)
per capita: 560 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazardsdroughts; cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
Environment - current issuesmany people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; waterborne diseases prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation
Environment - international agreementsparty to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - notemost of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas: the Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal
Population156,050,883 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure(%)0-14 years: 34.6% (male 27,065,625/female 26,913,961)
15-64 years: 61.4% (male 45,222,182/female 50,537,052)
65 years and over: 4% (male 3,057,255/female 3,254,808) (2009 est.)
Median age(years)total: 23.3 years
male: 22.9 years
female: 23.5 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate(%)1.292% (2009 est.)
Birth rate(births/1,000 population)24.68 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population)9.23 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population)-2.53 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization(%)urban population: 27% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio(male(s)/female)at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female
total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births)total: 59.02 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 66.12 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 51.64 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth(years)total population: 60.25 years
male: 57.57 years
female: 63.03 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate(children born/woman)2.74 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Bangladeshi(s)
adjective: Bangladeshi
Ethnic groups(%)Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)

Religions(%)Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
Languages(%)Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English

Country nameconventional long form: People's Republic of Bangladesh
conventional short form: Bangladesh
local long form: Gana Prajatantri Banladesh
local short form: Banladesh
former: East Bengal, East Pakistan
Government typeparliamentary democracy
Capitalname: Dhaka
geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 24 E
time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet
Constitution4 November 1972; effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982; restored 10 November 1986; amended many times

Legal systembased on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage18 years of age; universal
Executive branchchief of state: President Zillur RAHMAN (since 12 February 2009)
head of government: Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA Wajed (since 6 January 2009)
cabinet: Cabinet selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president
elections: president elected by National Parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); last election held on 11 February 2009 (next scheduled election to be held in 2014)
election results: Zillur RAHMAN declared president-elect by the Election Commission on 11 February 2009 (sworn in on 12 February); he ran unopposed as president; percent of National Parliament vote - NA

Legislative branchunicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies; members serve five-year terms
elections: last held 29 December 2008 (next to be held in 2013)
election results: percent of vote by party - AL 49%, BNP 33.2%, JP 7%, JIB 4.6%, other 6.2%; seats by party - AL 230, BNP 30, JP 27, JIB 2, other 11

Judicial branchSupreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president)

Political pressure groups and leadersAdvocacy to End Gender-based Violence through the MoWCA (Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs)
other: environmentalists; Islamist groups; religious leaders; teachers; union leaders
International organization participationADB, ARF, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Flag descriptiongreen field with a large red disk shifted slightly to the hoist side of center; the red disk represents the rising sun and the sacrifice to achieve independence; the green field symbolizes the lush vegetation of Bangladesh

Economy - overviewThe economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite inefficient state-owned enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East and East Asia, fuel economic growth. In 2008 Bangladesh pursued a monetary policy aimed at maintaining high employment, but created higher inflation in the process.
GDP (purchasing power parity)$226.4 billion (2008 est.)
$214 billion (2007 est.)
$201.5 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)$84.2 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate(%)5.8% (2008 est.)
6.2% (2007 est.)
6.4% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$1,500 (2008 est.)
$1,400 (2007 est.)
$1,300 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector(%)agriculture: 19.1%
industry: 28.6%
services: 52.3% (2008 est.)
Labor force70.86 million
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06. (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation(%)agriculture: 63%
industry: 11%
services: 26% (FY95/96)
Unemployment rate(%)2.5% (2008 est.)
2.5% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line(%)45% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%)lowest 10%: 4.3%
highest 10%: 26.6% (2005)
Distribution of family income - Gini index33.2 (2005)
33.6 (1996)
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP)24.3% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budgetrevenues: $8.825 billion
expenditures: $12.54 billion (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%)8.9% (2008 est.)
9.1% (2007 est.)

Stock of money$9.294 billion (31 December 2008)
$8.444 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money$37.98 billion (31 December 2008)
$32.35 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit$47.03 billion (31 December 2008)
$40.1 billion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares$6.671 billion (31 December 2008)
$6.793 billion (31 December 2007)
$3.61 billion (31 December 2006)
Economic aid - recipient$1.321 billion (2005)

Public debt(% of GDP)39.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
43% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - productsrice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
Industriescotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar

Industrial production growth rate(%)6.9% (2008 est.)

Current account balance$1.032 billion (2008 est.)
$856.8 million (2007 est.)
Exports$15.44 billion (2008 est.)
$12.47 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities(%)garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood
Exports - partners(%)US 21%, Germany 13.2%, UK 8.6%, France 6.3%, Netherlands 4.7% (2008)
Imports$21.51 billion (2008 est.)
$16.67 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities(%)machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement
Imports - partners(%)China 14.7%, India 14.7%, Kuwait 7.5%, Singapore 7.1%, Japan 4.1% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold$5.789 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.278 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external$22.83 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$21.23 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home$5.971 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.261 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad$97 million (31 December 2008 est.)
Exchange ratestaka (BDT) per US dollar - 68.554 (2008 est.), 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004)

Currency (code)taka (BDT)

Telephones - main lines in use1.39 million (2009)
Telephones - mobile cellular45.75 million (2009)
Telephone systemgeneral assessment: inadequate for a modern country; fixed-line telephone density remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and has reached 30 per 100 persons
domestic: modernizing; introducing digital systems; trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic cable in cities
international: country code - 880; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; satellite earth stations - 6; international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2008)
Internet country code.bd
Internet users556,000 (2008)
Airports17 (2009)
Pipelines(km)gas 2,597 km (2008)
Roadways(km)total: 239,226 km
paved: 22,726 km
unpaved: 216,500 km (2003)

Ports and terminalsChittagong, Mongla Port
Military branchesBangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army (Sena Bahini), Bangladesh Navy (Noh Bahini, BN), Bangladesh Air Force (Biman Bahini, BAF) (2009)
Military service age and obligation(years of age)16 years of age for voluntary military service; 17 years of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)
Manpower available for military servicemales age 16-49: 41,199,340 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military servicemales age 16-49: 24,946,041
females age 16-49: 31,409,069 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annuallymale: 1,538,865
female: 1,666,670 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures(% of GDP)1.5% of GDP (2006)
Disputes - internationaldiscussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange territory for 51 small Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 small Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007; dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; after 21 years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime boundary

Refugees and internally displaced personsrefugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma)
IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)
Electricity - production(kWh)22.99 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source(%)fossil fuel: 93.7%
hydro: 6.3%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption(kWh)21.38 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - exports(kWh)0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports(kWh)0 kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production(bbl/day)6,426 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - consumption(bbl/day)95,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - exports(bbl/day)2,612 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - imports(bbl/day)87,660 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - proved reserves(bbl)28 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production(cu m)17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - consumption(cu m)17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - exports(cu m)0 cu m (2008)
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m)141.6 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%)less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS12,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deathsfewer than 500 (2007 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations
water contact disease: leptospirosis
animal contact disease: rabies
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)
Literacy(%)definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 47.9%
male: 54%
female: 41.4% (2001 Census)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years)total: 8 years
male: 8 years
female: 8 years (2004)
Education expenditures(% of GDP)2.7% of GDP (2005)








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