BIBM organises workshop on sustainable finance

Coordination among the policymakers is a must to get the expected outcome from sustainable finance, experts said yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank and banking associations can jointly take initiatives for the sake of sustainable development of the country, experts suggested at a workshop at Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) office in the capital.

The Sustainable Finance Department of Bangladesh Bank and BIBM jointly organised the research workshop titled “Exploring barriers of sustainable finance in financial sector and policy propositions to remove the barriers”.  The BIBM research found that 27 percent of the fund spent for sustainable development was handed over against false documents.

There are various problems in sustainable financing and Bangladesh Bank is working to remove the barriers and loopholes in the policies, said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the central bank.

The banking regulator can create a fund for sustainable development, said Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank.

It will be difficult for the government to implement the crop insurance it introduced, as the new insurance will increase harvesting cost, said Khaled.

BIBM Supernumerary Professor Helal Ahmed Chowdhury emphasised skills development for sustainable financing. He suggested banks should allocate funds for training on sustainable financing.