The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Speakers at a seminar here yesterday laid emphasis on easy access to finance for the growth of agro-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to further develop the agriculture sector, GDP's largest contributor.

They also underscored the need for bridging the gap between bankers and entrepreneurs, so the banks could provide more monetary assistance to them.

The seminar on 'Access to finance for Agro-based Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SME)' was organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in its seminar room.

Agriculture Secretary M Abdul Aziz was present as the chief guest while DCCI President Hossain Khaled was in the chair.

General Manager of Bangladesh Bank Dasgupta Ashim Kumar presented a keynote paper on 'Availability of Financing and Development of Agriculture Entrepreneurs'.

Former lawmaker Fakhrul Islam Munshi, Deputy general manager of the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Dr Jashim Uddin and Deputy managing director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank Nurul Huda Chowdhury, among others, also took part in the discussion.

M Abdul Aziz said the SMEs sector, playing a significant role in terms of stimulating private ownership and generating employment opportunities, is one of the key economic drivers in achieving industrialisation and faster economic growth.

The principal objective of the government is to create income generating scopes and more equitable distribution of income by giving top priority on the SMEs sector, he said.

Aziz stressed the need for more SMEs to supplement the government efforts in further developing the agriculture sector. The government, he added, allocated an additional Taka 100 crore for the Equity Entrepreneurship Fund (EEF).

Other speakers suggested distribution of a part of the idle money amounting to Taka 15,000 crore lying with Bangladesh Bank among the SMEs to help further accelerate the agriculture activities in the country.

Referring to the Banks' more interest for funding the large corporate bodies than the agro-based SMEs, they said the entrepreneurs have been facing problems from factors like high inflation rate and the Banks' increased transition cost due to this policy.

Dasgupta Ashim Kumar in his keynote paper said the banks and financial instructions claimed that about 38 percent of the agriculture loans was already defaulted although the interest rate was only eight percent.

"Taka 14,670 crore has so far been disbursed as agriculture loan, of which Taka only 967 crore was sanctioned by the private banks," he said and termed this trend "definitely not a positive sign" for the country's macro-economic development.

Nurul Huda Chowdhury said the government has allocated Taka 300 crore for SME development, and the money will be disbursed through 15 branches of Bangladesh Krishi Bank.