Call for empowering microcredit regulator further

MA Mannan, state minister for planning and finance, yesterday called for giving more power to the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) and make the sector more pro-people.

He also stressed the need for coordination among the related organisations to create a comprehensive management system for the microcredit sector.

“The regulators are conscious about making the microcredit sector more pro-people.” The minister hoped it will not take more than five years to take per capita income to $2,400 from $1,200.

Mannan spoke at the opening ceremony of a national microcredit conference, at the PKSF auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.

The Institute of Microfinance (InM), Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the MRA jointly arranged the two-day event.

It is not possible to eradicate poverty with money only, said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, PKSF chairman.

“The problems are multi-dimensional. So we have to learn about the problems and come up with solutions by taking welfare-oriented initiatives.”

It is time to identify the opportunities and challenges the sector is now facing, said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank.

Development of entrepreneurship through microcredit would help alleviate poverty, said Meher Afroz Chumki, state minister for women and children affairs.