Project launched for RMG workers' financial inclusion
A MetLife Foundation-funded Swisscontact project was launched at a Dhaka hotel on Thursday to ensure financial inclusion of 60,000 workers in the readymade garment sector.
The 30-month “Sarathi” plans to bring the practice of salary disbursement through bank accounts at 30 factories by June 2020, says a statement.
It also intends to improve basic financial literacy on issues such as using bank accounts and cards, benefits of saving products, gaining control and privacy over earnings, planning and paying for recurring expenses and accessing savings and credit products.
Three major factories have already agreed to come on board. The pilot phase in the last two years benefitted over 1,100 workers.
Partner commercial banks are to provide services through agent banking networks. Bank Asia and City Bank have signed agreements with Swisscontact recently.
Speaking on the initiative, MA Mannan, state minister for finance, said “We need to agree that poverty is not our only problem, there are many other factors.”
Anirban Bhowmik, country director, Swisscontact in Bangladesh; Shafiqur Rahman Patwari, chairman, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority; Nurul Islam, chairman, MetLife Bangladesh, and Mansoor Ahmed, first vice president, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, also spoke.
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