Soft loan on offer

Expatriates' Welfare Bank is set to begin its journey tomorrow aiming to provide low interest loan to overseas job seekers and help them invest in businesses after returning home.
The interest rate has not been fixed yet, said Expatriates' Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain. He hinted it could be 9 percent as two job seekers would get loan at this rate on the inaugural day.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the bank, which will start its operation with an initial paid up capital of Tk 100 crore," the minister told reporters yesterday ahead of a meeting of Colombo Process, an alliance of 11 Asian manpower-exporting countries, from April 19-21.
Of the paid up capital, Tk 95 crore will be taken from the Wage Earners' Welfare Fund and the government will provide Tk 5 crore. The government will gradually increase the paid up capital to Tk 400 crore, the minister added.
A job seeker will have to submit his or her appointment letter to get a loan from the bank. The migrants, however, have to remit money through this bank, mentioned Mosharraf adding, it would introduce mobile banking to help the migrants remit money quickly.
When they will return, they will have access to low interest loan for starting businesses and self employment, the minister noted.
According to him, Bangladesh is the first Asian nation to start such a specialised bank. It will create an example for other labour-exporting Asian nations and brighten the image of the country. It would also contribute to improve migration management.
On the Colombo Process, the minister said the officials of the member countries would discuss today the problems and prospects of labour migration and make recommendations to address those.
Prime minister will inaugurate the ministerial meeting tomorrow, where ministers of participating countries will discuss the official recommendations and problems in migration management.
In a latter session, the observer countries (labour destination countries) and representatives of civil society groups will present their suggestions.
In between, a roundtable will discuss the ongoing crisis in Arab World and its impact on migrants.
"Libya crisis is a wake-up call for us. We want to have a common stance on what we could do under such emergencies," observed Mosharraf.
The ministers will finalise and accept the recommendations on April 21. A Dhaka Declaration would also be adopted on the concluding day.
Eleven Asian labour-exporting countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, while the destination countries attending the meeting include Bahrain, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Representatives from nine regional and international financial and donor organisations will also join the meeting as observers.