Government Turns to Banks to Contain Inflation

DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, May 5  As the government has reviewed the target to take bank loans for the budget of the current fiscal year, it has started borrowing more from registered banks than the Bangladesh Bank to rein in inflation.

Though the move has seen some successes, experts have said that it will impact investment negatively, if the government continues to take bank loans.

The government revises its borrowing target from banks in every April. The target was set in the budget of the current fiscal year at Tk 189.57 billion but increased it to Tk 270 billion.

It borrowed Tk 204 billion from the banks in the last fiscal year, which was Tk 50 billion more than the target fixed in the main budget and Tk 20 billion more than the target fixed in the revised budget.

According to latest Bangladesh Bank data, the government borrowed Tk 166.6853 billion from banks in the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year. Of which, the central bank has given Tk 28.2913 billion and the registered banks Tk 138.474 billion.

Only five months ago, the scenario was just the opposite as the government took Tk 110 billion loan from the central bank from July to November period while the total borrowing was Tk 190 billion.

Former governor of the Bangladesh Bank Mohammad Farashuddin says that the trend to take more loans from the central bank is similar to committing suicide.

"The government should reduce taking loans from the entire banking system," he said.

"But," he added, "If the flow of loans from the registered banks increase, the flow of loan to the private sector will decrease, which will impact investment and the entire economy."

Rather the government should pay more attention to increase revenue and foreign aid, he said.

If the central bank meets government demands by increasing reserved money, it brings inflation, economists say. It is said that if Tk100 is released in the market through this system, it multiplies to Tk 475 in the market, leading commodities to become pricier.

Former finance advisor to the caretaker government A B Mirza Azizul Islam said the government has to borrow more from the banks to buy fuel oil for the rental power plants.

The government opened the current financial year by taking big loans from the banks. In the first 100 days of the financial year, the government borrowed Tk 95 billion from banks.

It set a target to take Tk 189.57 billion of loan from banks in the current fiscal year. After six months, the borrowing exceeded the target and reached Tk 204 billion. At one stage, it was Tk 220 billion, with more than half from the central bank.

Facing criticism from several quarters, including the economists and the main opposition BNP for the borrowing, the government tried to borrow less from the banks and the borrowing was within Tk150-180 billion in past three months.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, point-to-point inflation in March was 10.10 percent. The rate has been a double-digit sum for past 10 months.  

International Day of the Midwife Being Marked

BANGLADESH NEWS

Dhaka, May 5  The International Day of the Midwife is going to be celebrated in Bangladesh on Saturday as elsewhere in the world.

In a joint statement before the day, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director Babatunde Osotimehin and International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) secretary general Agneta S. Bridges called upon countries to invest in midwifery services.

"Urgent action is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on child and maternal health before the target year of 2015, and investing in human resources for health, especially midwifery, is one of the soundest investments a country can make to accelerate progress," the joint statement read.

They praised the works of midwives in promoting good health and making childbirths safe and said midwives needed to ensure 'skilled care during deliveries.'

Over 100,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year across the globe while additional 8 million women suffer from serious pregnancy-related illnesses and disabilities and 2 million babies do not survive the first 24 hours after birth.

"One of the main causes for these tragedies is lack of access to maternity services, including the care of midwives or others with midwifery skills at childbirth," the statement said.

UNFPA and ICM are working to scale up efforts to strengthen midwifery training programmes and policies in 30 countries.

The UNFPA executive director during his Dhaka visit last year in Aug pledged full support to help in creating midwives in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh government has targeted to create 3,000 midwives by 2015. The National Midwifery Strategy plan is underway.

President of Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS) Halima Akhter has told bdnews24.com that currently 180 midwives were working at different hospitals.

"They were general nurses but later given a 6-month special midwifery training," she said.

In Bangladesh nurses having one-year midwifery training work as a general nurse and do not get international recognition as the training does not comply with the international standards and there are no separate positions for midwives.

The ICM suggested recognising midwifery as 'a distinct profession' and promoting it as a career with posts at the national level.

Halima said the upcoming midwifery strategy would address those issues.

With 194 in every 100,000 women die during childbirths each year, Bangladesh is on UN Millennium Development Goal 5 track.

But still around 70 percent women deliver at home mostly in the hands of unskilled persons, resulting in post-delivery complications and deaths.

To mark the day, BMS with the support of UNFPA will brought out a rally at around 8am from the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital.

The ongoing Asia Regional meeting on maternal and newborn care has dedicated a session on Saturday morning for the discussion on midwifery. 

309 Jawans Jailed for Mutiny at Pilkhana

BANGLADESH NEWS

Three hundred and nine jawans of 36 rifles battalion of BDR (now Border Guard Bangladesh) were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment ranging from seven years to four months for their involvement in a mutiny at Pilkhana headquarters in 2009.

In addition to jail terms, the court also fined each of the convicts Tk 100.

The Special Court-10 led by director (admin) of BGB headquarters Col Khandakar Obaidul Ahsan also acquitted a jawan as charge brought out against him was not proved.

The court sat at the Darbar Hall in the Pilkhana headquarters started delivering the judgement at 10:15am, which continued for two and a half hours.

Of the convicts, 52 were jailed for seven years, two for six years and six months, 13 for six years, 31 for five years, 53 for four years, five for three years and six months, 58 for three years, three for two years and two months, 50 for two years, 37 for one year, three for six months and two for four months.

A total of 73 people, including 57 army officers, were killed during the murderous mutiny at Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009.

A court pressed charges against the 310 jawans on February 22 last year.

The accused were alleged of leaving Darbar Hall, showing solidarity with mutineers, revolting with firearms, staying inactive to prevent mutiny and failing to control unruly colleagues.

HILLARY CLINTON IN DHAKA

BANGLADESH NEWS

aka from Manila at 9:00pm on Saturday.

Bangladesh hopes Hillary's visit will take Dhaka's political, economic and security cooperation with Washington to a new height and clear the clouds that recently shrouded the ties over Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Hillary Clinton arrived in Dhaka Saturday afternoon on her first visit to Bangladesh as the US secretary of state.

A special flight carrying Hillary and her entourage from Beijing touched the ground at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 4:30pm.

However, the US secretary of state disembarked from the plane after an hour-long meeting with the US embassy officials in Dhaka.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni received her at the VVIP Lounge of the airport around 5:30pm. After Bangladesh, Hillary is due to go to New Delhi on Sunday.

Hillary last toured the country as the First Lady while her husband Bill Clinton was president of the United States of America.

Her visit will coincide with the visit of Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is due to arrive in Dh

During her less-than-24-hour stay, Hillary is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia and Dipu Moni.

She is also expected to meet Yunus whose removal as the managing director of Grameen Bank prompted Washington to warn that the government move might affect the bilateral relations unless he was allowed to have a respectable exit from the bank he founded to pull millions of poor rural women out of poverty.

Hillary's visit, which is seen here as a major diplomatic triumph for Sheikh Hasina's government, follows a series of high-level visits by US officials in recent months.

Dhaka has taken unprecedented security measures centring the visit. Hillary is being hosted like a head of state with Special Security Force deployed.

The US secretary of state is leading a 38-member delegation, including 14 media personalities.

Hillary is scheduled to first join the bilateral talks with her Bangladesh counterpart Dipu Moni at 6:00pm at the Prime Minister's Office.

Dhaka is expected to request for duty- and quota-free access of readymade garments, Bangladesh's inclusion in the Millennium Challenge Account, development assistance and economic cooperation, and reiterate the long-standing demand for the deportation of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's condemned killer Rashed Chowdhury from the USA.

The US side will raise the issues of political stalemate, human rights situation, governance and killing of labour leader Aminul Islam at the talks. Besides, it will push for inking the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ticfa), engagement and cooperation between the two militaries, strategic collaboration to tackle militancy in South Asia and elsewhere, regional counterterrorism, energy cooperation and security in the Bay of Bengal.

The two countries are expected to strike a joint document styled “Declaration of Bangladesh-US Partnership Cooperation”, which will work as a platform to discuss all bilateral issues and cooperation.

After the meeting, Hillary and Dipu Moni will address a joint press briefing at 7:00pm on the outcome of the talks.

The US secretary will then call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for half-an-hour at her office which will be followed by about an hour's meet with Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office.

Hillary and Khaleda will discuss different bilateral issues, the country's political stalemate over the mechanism of holding the next general election, human rights situation, disappearances of BNP leaders, including that of Ilias Ali's, repression on the opposition activists etc.

Bangladesh foreign minister will host a dinner in honour of the US secretary.

Hillary is expected to meet the representatives of the civil society and Prof Yunus on Sunday.