Financial inclusion has significant potential for improving the well-being of all citizens in society, especially for the participants in unserved and under-served financial markets who belong to the poor and marginalised groups, CMSMEs, small and marginal farm households, participants in informal sector activities, youth and women belonging to poor households, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged groups. The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS, July 2021-June 2026) in 2021 as an effective tool to achieve the core objective to ‘increase the level of financial inclusion (having at least one regulated financial service account) of all adults to 100 per cent by June 2026’. This strategy has established its linkages with the long-term Perspective Plan of Bangladesh (2021-2041), medium-term 8th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and other relevant national strategies and policies. The government’s priority to adopt the NFIS stems from a number of considerations, including the potential of financial inclusion to reduce poverty and inequality, and promote financial stability, inclusive development and shared prosperity. Under this ADB funded project, InM is developing the updated and detailed Implementation Plan including an Action Plan (July 2021 to June 2026) of NFIS. In addition, InM is preparing a detailed year-wise Resource Plan for NFIS which indicates the amount of additional financial resources that would be required to achieve the targets of NFIS. The analysis is being carried out in close collaboration with the NFIS Administrative Unit (NAU) of Bangladesh Bank and Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance and other relevant stakeholders.

No comments yet

The 1st meeting of the Advisory Committee of the “Comprehensive Rural Finance” study supported by Bangladesh Bank was held on 22 September 2022 at InM Conference Room in Dhaka. Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman of the Advisory Committee chaired the meeting. All Hon’ble Members of the Advisory Committee were present at the meeting comprising of Dr. Mustafa K. Mujeri, Executive Director, Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM); Dr. Nazma Begum, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka; Dr. Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice Chairperson, BRAC; Dr. Toufic Ahmad Choudhury, Director General, Bangladesh Academy for Securities Markets; and Mr. Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, Former MD & CEO, Pubali Bank Limited. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss about the progress of the study and work plan of first year. This study will undertake a comprehensive national household level field study/survey in the rural economy on the country’s rural financial system and will provide evidence based inputs for framing effective policies by the Bangladesh Bank for sustained and inclusive development in Bangladesh.

No comments yet

InM is currently implementing the pilot phase of the WaterCredit Adoption (WCAD) Programme with support from Water.org that would create the scope of providing the poor households with access to small loans as a solution to affordable financing as well as access expert resources to make household water and toilet solutions a reality. The piloting has been undertaken by InM in partnership with ten WCAD partner MFIs to the customers at the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP). The phase covers a period of 12 months; and, at the end of the pilot, around 100,000 water supply and sanitation (WSS) loans are expected to be disbursed to reach about 400,000 people with improved water and/or sanitation and increased capital mobilisation.

Under the programme, InM is conducting a baseline survey which will be used to assess the initial conditions; in addition, this will serve as a benchmark to measure changes at the end of the pilot. The target households are those having potential borrowers from the WCAD partner MFIs who are the prospective borrowers of the WCAD Programme.

No comments yet

The 57th meeting of the InM Governing Body was held virtually on 28 June 2021. The Chairman of the InM Governing Body, Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad presided over the meeting. Dr. Toufic Ahmad Choudhury, Former Director General, BIBM; Dr. Jahangir Alam Khan, Agricultural Economist and Former Director General, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute; Ms. Nazneen Sultana, Former Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank; Dr. Nilufar Banu, Executive Director, Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP); and Dr. Mustafa K Mujeri, Executive Director, InM attended the meeting. Besides, Mr. Md. Fazlul Kader, Deputy Managing Director-1, PKSF, was present at this meeting as a special guest.

No comments yet

The 11^th batch of the InM Diploma in Microfinance Programme commenced on 7^th March 2021. Due to outbreak of COVID-19 and its impact on the microfinance sector, InM plans to conduct the classes of the programme online during Sunday through Friday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

No comments yet