No more new funds from refinance scheme: Governor

There will be no more new funds from the refinancing scheme as the county is currently facing a lot of problems due to inflation, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder said yesterday.

"As we are having a lot of problems because of inflation, we [the central bank] are unable to release new funds [from the refinance scheme] at this time," the governor said.

Moreover, when the Bangladesh Bank lends funds to someone, it creates money, fuelling inflation further, he said when a chief executive officer of a microfinance institution sought fund from the refinance scheme of the central bank at the inaugural ceremony of Microfinance Credit Information Bureau held at the Institute of Mother Language in the capital. 

The Microfinance Credit Information Bureau is a digital system launched by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority.

Abdur Rouf Talukder, however, said new funds can be released in future, if the county's inflation situation improves.

He further said, "We are gradually moving towards a cashless society. By the year 2026, 75% of our transactions will be cashless. Therefore, it is very important to move to an online system for information."

Referring to the proper maintenance of the digital system, the governor noted that simply digitising a system does not complete its work; the main problem is maintaining the system.

He also called upon officials of microfinance institutions to join the universal pension scheme.

According to the Microcredit Regulatory Authority, the Microfinance Credit Information Bureau is being prepared by verifying the NID of a customer/borrower. Customer information will be verified by taking a link from the NID database through API (Application Programming Interface). 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Microcredit Regulatory Authority and NID authorities. 

The Microcredit Regulatory Authority says the implementation of Microfinance Credit Information Bureau will make it possible to select the right customers, verify a customer's creditworthiness and know the history. 

At the same time, it will be easy to make financial services easier for customers, bring transparency to the microfinance sector and remove the barriers to customers getting loans, it says. 

It will be easier to pave the way for entrepreneurship and connect micro-entrepreneurs with the formal financial sector, says the Microcredit Regulatory Authority.

Addressing the function, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director of and Head of ICT Division Debdulal Roy said that the entire Microfinance Credit Information Bureau is NID-based. "At the moment, data of 50 organisations has been uploaded. From tomorrow [Friday], all organisations will be able to input data of borrowers based on NID." 

He called upon the officials of the respective organisations to train themselves to make it easier.

People's Oriented Program Implementation Founder and Executive Director Murshed Alam Sarkar and Sajida Foundation Chief Executive Officer Zahida Fizza Kabir also spoke at the programme.