Grameen Bank refutes PM's remarks

Grameen Bank yesterday refuted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's claim that the microcredit organisation charges 30 to 45 percent interest to the poor.
The Nobel Peace Prize winning bank in a statement said it charges 20 percent interest at the most in any sector, which is 7 percent lower than the government-fixed maximum rate for microcredit organisations.
The statement came following the prime minister's remarks in an interview with BBC's HARDtalk during her five-day London visit to attend the inaugural ceremony of Olympics 2012 on Monday.
BBC World News broadcast the interview, taken by Stephen Sackur, four times on Monday.
When Sackur asked if she had referred to Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as "a bloodsucker of the poor", the prime minister said, "Taking interest 40 percent, 30 percent or 45 percent from these poor people -- is it fair? It is not."
"How can these poor people stand by themselves? If you lend money and take 35 to 45 percent interest, it's a shame," she said.
Grameen Bank said it charges the lowest interest rate in Bangladesh, adding that it has five different types of interest rates for its five loan programmes.
The bank charges a maximum of 20 percent interest for income-generating credit loans. Their flat interest rate is 10 percent, which becomes 20 percent in case of effective interest rates, said Grameen Bank.
The bank charges 8 percent interest on house building loans. In case of higher education loans, it does not charge any interest except after completion of education, when it charges 5 percent.
State-run Microcredit Regulatory Authority, which regulates microfinance institutions, has set 27 percent as the maximum interest rate that such institutions can charge.