BB to unveil monetary policy January 30

Bangladesh Bank (BB) will announce its monetary policy for the second half of the current 2018-19 fiscal year at the end of the month.

Central bank Governor Fazle Kabir will unveil the monetary policy statement at a media briefing at BB on January 30.

"One of the major goals will be continuation of the current policy to support the targeted GDP growth of over 7 percent through quality credit to encourage investment in productive sector," a senior BB official said, declining to be named.

This will be the first monetary policy declaration after the Awami League-led government assumed office for the third consecutive time. BB officials said major shifts in the policy was unlikely since the same party returned to power.

They said the government was emphasing good governance this time since it has become an issue that obstructed quality credits from going to the hands of competent people.

Many economists are critical of the current situation against the backdrop of non-performing loans (NPL) as well as bad loans disbursed by some banks. NPL is estimated to be about Tk 1.0 trillion (Tk 100,000 crore), reports UNB.

Centre for Policy Dialogue, a think-tank, has termed 2017 as a year of banking scam.

Central bank officials hinted that the new policy would try to give a cautionary view on the country's inflation to keep it within a manageable level while special attention will be given to relaxing the current pressure in banking liquidity.