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Bangladesh Bank: Official agent for software & agro equity funds |
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December 31, 2000
Dhaka-- (UNB)- The government has appointed Bangladesh Bank as the agent for channeling Tk 100 crore equity fund for software and agro-processing industries, completing a legal provision required for disbursement of the money under the budget. The agency agreement signed between the Finance Ministry and the central bank on December 26 cleared the way for releasing the fund to potential investors through commercial banks. Since there is no formal institution to deal with the special fund, Bangladesh Bank required this legal provision to release the fund, aimed at encouraging investment in promising but risky sectors of software and agro-processing. Joint secretary of the Finance Ministry Nurun Nabi and executive director of Bangladesh Bank Ziaul Hasan siddiqi signed the agreement. It took six months for the central bank to have a go-ahead with the Fund, keeping it idle for half of the year. The Equity Development Fund (EDF), now renamed as Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund (EEF), will provide fund for software or agro-processing industry up to 49 per cent as equity support. But EEF support would not exceed more than one-third (33.33 per cent) of the total project cost. Consultant for the EEF Ghiasuddin Ahmed told UNB that they would proceed with other formalities as soon as the agreement is signed. They would now give newspaper advertisement and issue circulars to as many as 50 banks seeking their response to handle the fund. “Then we’ll sign separate agreements with the interested banks and modalities for disbursement of the Fund have already been set,” Ahmed said. He said since local market for software is quite insignificant, they expect response from NRBs, who have expertise in software industries and have access to international IT market. Joint collaborations of local entrepreneurs and NRBs are most welcome for the fund, the official said. In case of agro-processing industry, the EEF will give special focus on non-traditional areas, which have enough export potentials. Finance Minister on several occasions advised the software entrepreneurs to avail advantage of the fund. But response so far it is not encouraging, bankers said. A senior official of a commercial bank said they are not even aware how the fund, left with the central bank, would be disbursed and from when. Dhaka Chamber President Aftab Ul Islam, a forerunner in IT sector, said channeling of the fund would not be of much use unless telecom infrastructure is improved, access to fibre optic cable line and high speed data transmission is ensured. Bangladesh Agro-processors’ Association president Amjad Khan Chowdhury said the Fund, if released, would help boost the agro-processing sector. |