An Assignment On

An overview of Economic
Institutions in Bangladesh

Course Name: Micro-economics

Course Code: MGT-205

Submitted to: Nafiza Islam

Lecturer
Dept. of Management Studies
Faculty f Business Studies

Submitted by: Abo Salek Md Nasim

Dept. of Management Studies
Id: 1765, 3rd semester
Batch: 4th, Session: 2013-14

1
Submission date: 15 October, 2015

2
 An overview of Economic
Institutions in Bangladesh

Institutions
Institutions are defined as helping form stable expectations, hence institutions
can only be changed infrequently if they are to fulfil this function. Institutions
operate at a deeper level and are, in effect, constitutional; they establish the
framework of rules within which more routine decisions take place.

Economic institutions
Economic institutions are durable systems of economy that are established and
embedded with social rules and conventions that structure social and monetary
interactions.

Specific agencies or foundations, both government and private, devoted to

collecting or studying economic data, or commissioned with the job of
supplying a good or service that is important to the economy of a country. The
Internal Revenue Service (the IRS—the government tax-collection agency), the
U.S. Federal Reserve (the government producer of money), the National Bureau
of Economic Research (a private research agency) are all examples of
economic institutions.

Economists are interested not only in understanding specific existing

institutional agencies, but also in the more exciting question of why some
institutions evolve and others don't. Why do institutions differ in one country to
the next?

Role of economic institutions

Economics has variously been defined as a social science that involves itself in
the study and analysis of production, distribution as well as consumption of
goods and services. Therefore, in some circumstances, when considering which
type of institutions fall under this category, some economist choose to leave
out regulatory institutions and others such as non-profit organizations. This
leaves us with three categories: Manufacturers, distributors and consumers.
These three can informally be referred to as the categories of economic
institution.

Advanced modern economic theories pay very close attention to institutions. In

institutional economies, institutions are deemed to play a very central role in
shaping the behavior of other players in an economic setting. For example, in
the world today there are some very huge multinational companies, which
have overwhelming market presence and a lot of financial prowess. Such
companies have the power to influence key aspects of the market such
as demand and supply, as well as pricing. It is not uncommon nowadays for
huge companies to buy, or merge with small companies which are supposed to
be competitors in the same market.

how are economic institutions

formed?
Institutions emerge in two ways: either informally through repeated
interactions between individuals or organisations that establish expected
norms of behaviour; or else formally through deliberate

design. In the latter case, it may be government that establishes the

institution, or it might be an initiative from private enterprise or civil society. In
both cases, it can be argued that institutions are created and evolve in
response to the uncertainty, risk and information costs associated with living
and transacting in an imperfect world. Institutions are thus rational
mechanisms designed to cope with the imperfections of markets, including the
asymmetry of information held by different actors, the problems that principals
have in ensuring that their agents pursue the same goals, etc. This explains
why seemingly ‘irrational’ and inefficient institutions such as share-cropping
have persisted as ways to solve such imperfections. Whatever the origin of the
institution, the more widely it is recognised the better it will function and such
recognition reaches its maximum expression when the norm is endorsed by the
state as legally binding. Not all institutions require the support of governments,
but some do in order to remove ambiguity and to provide legal backing for the
norms in question. Institutions may be seen as public goods in that their
benefits (and costs) are shared by all in the economy, no matter who took the
trouble to establish them.2 This suggests that many institutions will require
action by governments to create and implement the norm. Most institutions are
not lightly changed, even when clearly imperfect or outdated. Institutions are
valued for the predictability that they bring to the system; frequent change and
experimentation to established norms is thus not usually encouraged.

How Do economic institutions

function?
function examples Typical formal informal
regulating regulating
agency agency

Property rights Land tenure Land registries Oral history,

chiefs & other
Establish rights; Inheritance law Probate registry local political
decide between Intellectual property Patent offices authorities
competing rights: patents, Custom
claims; inform copyright
non-owners &
police
Reciprocracy: Weights, measures, Standards Elders,
standards Contract bureaux religious
facilitating law; dispute courts
transactions arbitration Public Civil courts; Customary
Establish rules of information on arbitration points for
exchange, markets Physical councils Market exchange
respect for provision & information (crossroads,
contracts Provide organisation of agencies Local etc.) Market
information markets (e.g. authorities; stock hierarchies
Reduce or re- auction rings, stock exchanges/ (Market
allocate risk exchanges, futures bourses mammies/
markets) Banking queens/etc.)
conventions, Bank regulatory Haveli
instruments (letters agencies systems
of credit, etc.)
Auditing & Professional
accounting associations
conventions Professional
Insurance associations
companies
Co-operation & Laws on limited Register of Social norms
Organisation: liability & companies of cooperation
bankruptcy
Allow Competition policy Commissions on
• Interactions monopolies & Custom
within Regulations on mergers Co-
organisations cooperatives, operatives
• Collective charities, civil ministries,
action & associations bureau
cooperation (in Auditing &
labour, price accounting Professional
negotiation) conventions associations Min
• Realising Employment labour,
economies of regulations employment
scale and tribunals
managing
diseconomies of
scale

Bangladesh Economy summary

Bangladesh is an agricultural country. With some three-fifths of the population
engaged in farming. Jute and tea are principal sources of foreign
exchange. Major impediments to growth include frequent cyclones and floods,
inefficient state-owned enterprises, inadequate port facilities, a rapidly growing
labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, delays in exploiting energy
resources (natural gas), insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation
of economic reforms. Economic reform is stalled in many instances by political
infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Progress also has been
blocked by opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other
vested interest groups. The newly-elected BNP government, led by Prime
Minister Khaleda ZIA, has the parliamentary strength to push through needed
reforms, but the party's level of political will to do so remains undetermined.

The government is committed to market economy and has been pursuing

policies for supporting and encouraging private investment and eliminating
unproductive expenditures in the public sector. A number of measures have
been taken to strengthen the planning system and intensify reforms in the
financial sector. The present government believe that wastage of resources is a
far greater obstacle to development than inadequacy of resources. 

It is common knowledge that many development efforts in the past years

turned into exercises in futility because of inefficiency and corruption in high
places. Terrorism was allowed to paralyse law and order. Administration was
over centralized at the cost of local government institutions. The government
has, therefore, decided to decentralize administration in the quickest possible
time.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $230 billion (2001 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 5.6% (2001 est.)
GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,750 (2001 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 30%.
industry: 18%.
services: 52% (2000).

Population below poverty line: 35.6% (1995-96 est.) 

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.9%.
highest 10%: 28.6% (1996).

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.8% (2000) 

Labor force: 64.1 million (1998).

note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and
Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71 billion in 1998-99.

Labor force-by occupation: agriculture 65%, services 25%, industry and mining

10% (1996) 
Unemployment rate: 35.2% (1996). 

Budget:
revenues: $4.9 billion
expenditures: $6.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000). 

Industries: jute manufacturing, cotton textiles, garments, tea processing,

paper newsprint, cement, chemical, light engineering, sugar, food processing,
steel, fertilizer. 
Industrial production growth rate: 6.2% (2001)
Electricity-production: 13.493 billion kWh (2000).

Electricity-production by source:
fossil fuel: 92.45%
hydro: 7.55%
nuclear: 0%.
other: 0% (2000).

Electricity-consumption: 12.548 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity-exports: 0 kWh (2000).
Electricity-imports: 0 kWh (2000).

Agriculture-products: rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco,

pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry.

Exports: $6.6 billion (2001)

Exports-commodities: garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and

seafood.

Imports: $8.7 billion (2001)

Imports-commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel,

textiles, raw cotton, food, crude oil and petroleum products, cement.

Imports-partners: India 10.5%, EU 9.5%, Japan 9.5%, Singapore 8.5%, China

7.4% (2000)

Economic aid-recipient: $1.575 billion (2000 est.)

Currency: 1 taka (Tk) = 100 poisha.

Exchange rates: Taka per US dollar - 57.756 (January 2002), 55.807 (2001),

52.142 (2000), 49.085 (1999), 46.906 (1998), 43.892 (1997)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June. 

Overview of Financial system of
Bangladesh
The financial system of Bangladesh is comprised of three broad fragmented
sectors:

1. Formal Sector,
2. Semi-Formal Sector,
3. Informal Sector.

The sectors have been categorized in accordance with their degree of

regulation.
The formal sector includes all regulated institutions like Banks, Non-Bank
Financial Institutions (FIs), Insurance Companies, Capital Market Intermediaries
like Brokerage Houses, Merchant Banks etc.; Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).

The semi formal sector includes those institutions which are regulated
otherwise but do not fall under the jurisdiction of Central Bank, Insurance
Authority, Securities and Exchange Commission or any other enacted financial
regulator. This sector is mainly represented by Specialized Financial
Institutions like House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), Palli Karma
Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Samabay Bank, Grameen Bank etc., Non
Governmental Organizations (NGOs and discrete government programs.

The informal sector includes private intermediaries which are completely

unregulated.
The brief description of several economic institutions who are working in
Bangladesh is given:
 Bangladesh Bank
Head Quarter : Dhaka , Bangladesh.

Description
Bangladesh Bank  is the Central Bank of Bangladesh and is a member of
the Asian Clearing Union.

The bank is active in developing green banking and financial inclusion policy

and is an important member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion Bangladesh
Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), a department of Bangladesh Bank, has got
the membership of Egmont Group

Bangladesh Bank is the first central bank in the world to introduce a dedicated
hotline (16236) for the general populace to complain any banking related
problem. Moreover, the organization is the first central bank in the world to
issue a "Green Banking Policy". To acknowledge this contribution, current-
Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman was given the title ‘Green Governor’ at the 2012
United Nations Climate Change Conference, held at the Qatar National
Convention Centre in Doha.

But here is some major objective in the bank:

1) To regulate the issue of the currency and the keeping of reserves.

 2) Manage the monetary and credit system of Bangladesh with a view tostabilizing
domestic monetary Value

3) To preserve the par value of the Bangladesh Taka

4) To promote and maintain a high level of production, employment and real income
in Bangladesh;

5) To foster growth and development of the country's productive resources for the
national interest

Establishment
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank and apex regulatory body for the
country's monetary and financial system, was established in Dhaka as a body
corporate vide the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 (P.O. No. 127 of 1972) with
effect from 16th December, 1971. At present it has ten offices located at
Motijheel, Sadarghat, Chittagong, Khulna, Bogra, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal,
Rangpur and Mymensingh in Bangladesh; total manpower stood at 5807
(officials 3981, subordinate staff 1826) as on March 31, 2015.

Functions
BB performs all the core functions of a typical monetary and financial sector
regulator, and a number of other non core functions. The major functional
areas include :

1. Formulation and implementation of monetary and credit policies.

2. Regulation and supervision of banks and non-bank financial institutions,
promotion and development of domestic financial markets.
3. Management of the country's international reserves.
4. Issuance of currency notes.
5. Regulation and supervision of the payment system.
6. Acting as banker to the government .
7. Money Laundering Prevention.
8. Collection and furnishing of credit information.
 9. Implementation of the Foreign exchange regulation Act.
10. Managing a Deposit Insurance Scheme .

Supervision of the Banking

System
Central Bank is the leader of all banks in Bangladesh. It supervises the
banking system of the country. Why not Central may be responsible for
banking system.They collect information from commercial bank and take
necessary decision by two ways-
a) bank examine and
b) bank regulation.
When a bank takes decision for customer or others, Central Bank examines it
and gives permission for implement or eliminates the project. Central Bank
also make project for customer and advice to implement in Other Banks.

Advising the Government on

Monetary Policy
Monetary policy is a most important issue for economic. The decision on monetary
policy may be taken by the central bank. Monetary policy refers to interest rates and
money supply. The central bank will corporate with the government on economic
policy generally and will produce advice on monetary policy and economic
matters,including all the statistics.

Issue of Banknotes
Money is a key of economy. The central bank controls the issue of banknotes
and coins. Most payment these days does not involve cash but cheques,
standing order,direct debit, credit cards and so on. Nevertheless, cash is
important as bank’s cash holdings are a constraint on creation of credit, as
we have seen.

Acting as Banker to Other Banks

The Central bank will act as banker to the other banks in the country. As well
as holding accounts with international bodies like IMF World bank. It is a
common habit for the central bank to insist that the other banks hold non-
interest bearing reserves with in proportion to their deposit.

Acting As Banker to Government

Normally a central bank acts as the government’s banker. It receives
revenues
For Taxes and other income and pay out money for t
he government’s expenditure.
Usually, it will not lend to the government but will help the government to
borrow money by the sales of its bill and bonds.

Money for the Government

The government Treasury bill and bond markets are covered by the central
bank.While sometimes the treasury or ministry of finance handle.

Controlling the Nation’s Currency

Reserves
Another main function of Bangladesh Bank is to control the nation’s currency
reserves. Again by controlling the exchanging rate, it protects the value of
national currency in international market. So in a short, Bangladesh Bank
always attempts to maintain the value of national currency steady.

Board of Directors
The board of directors consist of the governor of the bank and eight other
members. They are responsible for the policies undertaken by the Bank.
Information Center
This part is linked to Press releases, Circulars, Notices etc published from BB.
Different departments are engaged in circulating policy, rules and guidelines
for regulating the financial sector of Bangladesh.

Department of Printing and Publications issued press releases on different

activities of BB like repo-treasury auction notice, new note release etc which
are available in Press Release section.

Investment facilities through

Bonds
Bangladesh offers generous opportunities for investment under its liberalised
Industrial Policy and export-oriented, private sector-led growth strategy. The
government's role is that of a facilitator which helps create an enabling
environment for expanding private investment, both domestic and foreign. The
Board of Investment (BOI), established by the government for accelerating
private investment, provides institutional support services to intending
investors.

Non Resident Bangladeshis have numbers of opportunities to invest their

money in different bonds to earn attractive profit like premium bond,
investment bond etc.

Services for general public

Bangladesh Bank serves the people in many ways.

The Bank issues banknotes with special security features so that owner knows
the money is genuine. View the security posters to know the features.

If you have deposited your money in scheduled banks, and have not made
transaction for last ten years, you can check your account from 'Claim your
money' link.

Any client, person or agency having complaint(s) against a Scheduled

Bank/FI/Bangladesh Bank or related official may write down his/her
complaint(s) in the 'Customer Complaint' link.
 Currency in circulation
View the banknotes currently in circulation and learn how to check that
they are genuine using the security features.

Coinage Currency notes

Publications of Bangladesh Bank

Bangladesh Bank publishes a range of periodical publications, research paper
and reports that contain monetary & banking developments, economic reviews,
as well as various other statistical data.

Some of the publications are:

Monetary
Bangladesh Balance of Monetary Policy
Annual Report Policy
Bank Quarterly Payment Review
Statement

Annual Report CSR Of Changes Schedule Financial

on Green Initiative and d Banks stability
 s in transformatio
Banking Statistics report
Banks ns

Branches
Branches
 Motijheel Office  Bogra Office

 Chittagong Office  Khulna Office

 Mymensingh Office  Rangpur Office

 Sylhet Office  Rajshahi Office

 Barisal Office  Rajshahi Office

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
Headquarter : House # 6/2 (7th and 8th Floor), Lalmatia Housing Estate, Kazi
Nazrul Islam Rd, Dhaka 1207

Description

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993 by Professor Rehman

Sobhan with support from leading civil society institutions in Bangladesh, is

mandated by its Deed of Trust to service the growing demand that originates

from the emerging civil society of Bangladesh for a more participatory and

accountable development process. CPD seeks to address this felt need by way

of organising multistakeholder consultations, by conducting research on issues

of critical national and regional interests, through dissemination of knowledge

and information on key developmental issues, and by influencing the policy

making process in the country.

Organisation Structure
Focus
CPD is an independent think-tank with local roots and global outreach. CPD
focuses on frontier issues which are critical to the development process of
Bangladesh, South Asia and LDCs in the present context, and those that are
expected to shape and influence country's development prospects from the
medium-term perspective. CPD's current programme portfolio includes
research activities, holding of dialogues, publication and dissemination, and
networking-related initiatives. CPD strives to enhance national capacity for
economy-wide policy analyses, foster regional cooperation, and addresses
issues which relate to Bangladesh's effective integration into the process of
regionalisation and globalisation.

CPD activities also focus on challenges for regional cooperation and integration
in South Asia. Moreover, CPD engages its capacity to analyse and highlight
factors affecting socioeconomic progress in the LDCs. CPD has been organising
Indo-Bangladesh dialogues on a regular basis where high level policymakers
and representatives of key stakeholder groups of the two countries discuss
issues of bilateral interest. CPD is also actively involved in the Kunming
Initiative which strives to foster cooperation among Bangladesh, China, India
and Myanmar. Among other things, CPD regularly organises international fora
of the civil society organisations to advance the interests of the LDCs in the UN,
WTO and other multilateral institutions.

Target Groups
CPD's target groups are diverse and include both global and local policymakers.
CPD seeks to provide voice to the interests and concerns of the low-income
economies in global development discourse. In doing so, CPD involves all
important cross-sections of the society including public representatives,
government officials, business leaders, representatives of grassroots
organisations, academics, development partners and other relevant interest
groups. These different groups are engaged in exchange of views in all the
three phases of the CPD process: identification of socially relevant issues,
generation of inputs for policy analysis, and validation of policy
recommendations.

Operational Modality
CPD's civic activism in policy-related areas is operationalised through various
means which are implemented by way of concrete initiatives. These include:

 Knowledge generation through research and analysis, creation and

management of data and information base.
  Policy appreciation through dialogues, networking, information dissemination
and mobilising support of the civil society for concrete policy agendas.

 Policy influencing at national, regional and international levels, by involving

policymakers in the dialogue process, and by contributing to preparation of
global policy documents and national policy briefs.

 Capacity building by way of organising policy appreciation workshops for

policymakers and other important stakeholder groups.

Research
CPD maintains an extensive research portfolio focusing on frontier issues that
would define Bangladesh's socioeconomic transformation in the immediate
future. The research issues pursued by the Centre also address the interests
and concerns of South Asian as well as LDCs.

The evolving research programme of CPD reflects the expressed demands of

the policymakers, and attempts to provide voice to the absentee stakeholders
in the policy making process. CPD deploys multistakeholder dialogues, along
with traditional research techniques, to elicit analytical insights and to seek
validation of the research conclusions.

As a centre of excellence, CPD endeavours to interface its research outcomes

with the ongoing global debates on contemporary development discourse. CPD
partners with research institutions and agencies of global acclaim. For more
than a decade now, CPD, as a partner institute of the World Economic Forum
(WEF), is contributing to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR). CPD is
currently spearheading an independent partnership of international institutions
to follow up the outcome of the Fourth UN LDC Conference.

CPD's flagship output, titled the Independent Review of Bangladesh's

Development (IRBD) regularly monitors the policy environment,
macroeconomic indicators and sectoral variables of the country. Challenging
the Injustice of Poverty: Agendas for Inclusive Development in South Asia is one
of the important studies carried out by the CPD in recent times.

Some of the other issues addressed in the immediate past at CPD included
agricultural productivity and diversification, implications of WTO negotiations,
regional connectivity and trade facilitation, implications of trade liberalisation
on employment, promotion of foreign direct investment, impact of climate
change on livelihood concerns, assessment of social safety net programmes,
economic costs of spousal violence, export diversification, and efficacy of
development institutions.
Ongoing recent research activities of CPD have clustered under the following
eight broad themes:

1. Macroeconomic Performance Analysis

2. Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice
3. Agriculture and Rural Development
4. Trade, Regional Cooperation and Global Integration
5. Investment Promotion, Infrastructure and Enterprise Development
6. Climate Change and Environment
7. Human Development and Social Protection
8. Development Governance, Policies and Institutions

Contribution to Policy Making

CPD researchers have been actively involved in contributing to the policy
making process in the country as members of various committees and working
groups set up by a range of public bodies including the Bangladesh Bank,
Planning Commission, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industries, and
Ministry of Agriculture. CPD senior research staff are members of Panel of
Economists for the Sixth Five-Year Plan, Boards of state-owned banks, WTO
Advisory and Working Groups, and various other policy forums. Senior
researchers of CPD, on a regular basis, disseminate CPD's research findings to
the wider public through comments and interviews in newspapers, television
and radio channels, and international media. They also regularly participate in
television talk shows. Writing of op eds and popular pieces by the CPD
researchers for leading newspapers on a regular basis is another way to reach
the policy voice.

Support to Young Professionals

With a view to promote development vision and policy awareness amongst the
young people of the country, CPD is implementing a Youth Leadership
Programme. The aim of the programme is to inculcate leadership qualities and
promote civic responsibility amongst the young professionals of the country
through internship, research involvement, dialogue participation and civic
activism. CPD regularly hosts international interns.

Publication and Dissemination

CPD pursues a comprehensive programme for disseminating its research and
dialogue outputs through regular publications and web-postings. CPD's current
publication list contains more than 370 titles including Books, Monographs,
Working Papers (Occasional Papers), Dialogue Reports and Policy Briefs.
CPD Books and Monographs have been published by The University Press Ltd.
(UPL), Pathak Shamabesh and on CPD's own initiative. CPD outputs are
available for sale at the Centre and also in selected bookstores in Bangladesh.
The Working Papers (Occasional Papers) and Dialogue Reports are posted on
CPD's website. Information about ongoing CPD activities is also regularly
published in the CPD Quarterly.

BRAC, an international development organisation based in Bangladesh, is the

largest non-governmental development organisationin the world, in terms of
number of employees as of June 2015.[1][2][3][4] Established by Sir Fazle
Hasan Abed in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in
all 64 districts of Bangladesh as well as other countries in Asia, Africa, and the
Americas.

BRAC employs over 100,000 people, roughly 70 percent of whom are women,
reaching more than 126 million people[citation needed]. The organisation is 70-
80% self-funded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a
dairyand food project and a chain of retail handicraft stores called Aarong.
BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries throughout the world, including BRAC
USA and BRAC UK.[citation needed]

BRAC considers itself to have a unique philosophy towards eradicating poverty.

As one author has said, “BRAC’s idea was simple yet radical: bring together the
poorest people in the poorest countries and teach them to read, think for
themselves, pool their resources, and start their own businesses” (Barber).
BRAC has mobilized to organize what it calls "the isolated poor" or the "ultra
poor". Women and girls have also been a strong focus of BRAC’s anti-poverty
approach.

Objectives
Economic development
BRAC’s Economic Development programme includes microcredit. It provides
collateral-free credit using a solidarity lending methodology, as well as
obligatory savings schemes through its Village Organisations. Reaching nearly
4 million borrowers, Village Organisations provide loans to poverty groups.
BRAC has reached out to those who, due to extreme poverty, cannot access
microfinance. BRAC defines such people suffering from extreme poverty as the
'ultra poor', and has designed a programme customized for this group that
combines subsidy with enterprise development training, healthcare, social
development and asset transfer, eventually pulling the ultra poor into its
mainstream microfinance programme.

Education
BRAC’s Non-Formal Primary Education programme provides five-year primary
education course in four years to poor, rural, disadvantaged children and drop-
outs who cannot access formal schooling. These one-room schools are for
children between eight and fourteen years of age. Each school typically
consists of 33 students and one teacher. Core subjects include Mathematics,
Social Studies and English. The schools also offer extracurricular activities. As
of June 2008, 37,500 Primary Schools and 24,750 Pre-Primary schools have
been established by BRAC enrolling nearly 3 million children, 65% of whom are
girls. The schools have a drop-out rate of less than 5%

Public health
BRAC started providing public healthcare in 1972 with an initial focus on
curative care through paramedics and a self-financing health insurance
scheme. The programme went on to offer integrated health care services, its
key achievements including the reduction of child mortality rates through
campaign for oral rehydration in the 80s and taking immunization from 2% to
70% in Bangladesh. BRAC, in 1980, trained 10,000 women to teach
Bangladeshi families how to make their own oral rehydration solution; to date
75% of families in Bangladesh use oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhea,
13 million homes have been reached by BRAC trainers, and estimates of lives
saved by oral rehydration therapy reach 10s of millions. BRAC currently
provides a range of services that reach an estimated 31 million rural poor and
include services for mothers in reproductive health care and infants.In
Bangladesh, 78% of births occur in the home. BRAC has implemented a
program in which midwives are trained to work in the homes of women to
ensure that births are as risk-free as possible. As of December 2007, 70,000
community health volunteers and 18,000 health workers have been trained
and mobilized by BRAC to deliver door-to-door health care services to the rural
poor. It has established 37 static health centres and a Limb and Brace Fitting
Centre that provides low cost devices and services for the physically disabled.
BRAC has been working closely with the government as part of National
Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) to combat tuberculosis, covering 93 million
people in 42 districts.[12] BRAC has also been working in National Malaria
Control Programme (NMCP) in partnership with government and 20 other NGOs
in 13 endemic districts of Bangladesh covering almost 15 million people. [13]

Social development
In 1996, BRAC started a programme in collaboration with the Ain O Shalish
Kendra (ASK) and Bangladesh National Women Leader’s Association (BNWLA)
to empower women to protect themselves from social discrimination and
exploitation of which dowry, rape, acid throwing, polygamy, domestic violence
and oral divorce are common in rural Bangladeshi communities and to
encourage and assist them to take action when their rights are infringed. The
programme has two components: the Social Development component and the
Human Rights and Legal Services component

Disaster relief
BRAC conducted one of the largest NGO responses to Cyclone Sidr which hit
vast areas of the south-western coast in Bangladesh in mid-November 2007.
BRAC distributed emergency relief materials, including food and clothing, to
over 900,000 survivors, provided medical care to over 60,000 victims and
secured safe supplies of drinking water. BRAC is now focusing on long-term
rehabilitation, which will include agriculture support, infrastructure
reconstruction and livelihood regeneration
The Grameen Bank (Bengali: গ্রামীণ বাংক) is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning
microfinance organization and community development bank founded in
Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit")[5]
to the impoverished without requiring collateral. The name Grameen is derived
from the word gram which means "rural" or "village" in the Sanskrit language.[6]

Micro-credit loans are based on the concept that the poor have skills that are
under-utilized and, with incentive, they can earn more money. A group-based
credit approach is applied to use peer-pressure within a group to ensure the
borrowers follow through and conduct their financial affairs with discipline,
ensuring repayment and allowing the borrowers to develop good credit
standing. The bank also accepts deposits, provides other services, and runs
several development-oriented businesses including fabric, telephone and
energy companies. The bank's credit policy to support under-served
populations has led to the overwhelming majority (96%) of its borrowers being
women.

Grameen Bank originated in 1976, in the work of Professor Muhammad Yunus

at University of Chittagong, who launched a research project to study how to
design a credit delivery system to provide banking services to the rural poor.
Based on his positive results, in October 1983 the Grameen Bank was
authorized by national legislation as an independent bank. In 2006, the bank
and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize.[7] In 1998 the Bank's "Low-cost Housing Program" won a World Habitat
Award. In 2011, the Bangladesh Government forced Yunus to resign from
Grameen Bank, saying that at age 72, he was years beyond the legal limit for
the position.
Application of microcredit
Grameen Bank is founded on the principle that loans are better than charity to
interrupt poverty: they offer people the opportunity to take initiatives in
business or agriculture, which provide earnings and enable them to pay off the
debt.

The bank is founded on the belief that people have endless potential, and
unleashing their creativity and initiative helps them end poverty.[18] Grameen
has offered credit to classes of people formerly underserved: the poor, women,
illiterate, and unemployed people. Access to credit is based on reasonable
terms, such as the group lending system and weekly-installment payments,
with reasonably long terms of loans, enabling the poor to build on their existing
skills to earn better income in each cycle of loans.[18]

Grameen's objective has been to promote financial independence among the

poor. Yunus encourages all borrowers to become savers, so that their local
capital can be converted into new loans to others. Since 1995, Grameen has
funded 90 percent of its loans with interest income and deposits collected,
aligning the interests of its new borrowers and depositor-shareholders.
Grameen converts deposits made in villages into loans for the more needy in
the villages (Yunus and Jolis 1998).[19]

It targets the poorest of the poor, with a particular emphasis on women, who
receive 95 percent of the bank’s loans. Women traditionally had less access to
financial alternatives of ordinary credit lines and incomes. They were seen to
have an inequitable share of power in household decision making. Yunus and
others have found that lending to women generates considerable secondary
effects, including empowerment of a marginalized segment of society (Yunus
and Jolis 1998), who share betterment of income with their children, unlike
many men. Yunus claims that in 2004, women still have difficulty getting loans;
they comprise less than 1 percent of borrowers from commercial banks (Yunus
2004). The interest rates charged by microfinance institutes including Grameen
Bank is high compared to that of traditional banks; Grameen's interest
(reducing balance basis) on its main credit product is about 20%. [20]

Village Phone program

The bank has diversified among different applications of microcredit. In the
Village Phone program, women entrepreneurs can start businesses to provide
wireless payphone service in rural areas. This program earned the bank the
2004 Petersburg Prize worth EUR 100,000, for its contribution of Technology to
Development.[29] In the press release announcing the prize, the Development
Gateway Foundation noted that through this program:

...Grameen has created a new class of women entrepreneurs who have raised
themselves from poverty. Moreover, it has improved the livelihoods of farmers
and others who are provided access to critical market information and lifeline
communications previously unattainable in some 28,000 villages of
Bangladesh. More than 55,000 phones are currently in operation, with more
than 80 million people benefiting from access to market information, news from
relatives, and more.[29]

Struggling members program

In 2003, Grameen Bank started a new program, different from its traditional
group-based lending, exclusively targeted to the beggars in Bangladesh.[30] This
program is focused on distributing small loans to beggars. The loans are
completely interest-free, the repayment period can be arbitrarily long, and the
borrower is covered under life insurance free of cost. For example, a beggar
taking a small loan of around 100 taka (about US $1.50) may pay back only
2.00 taka (about 3.4 US cents) per week.

Housing loans
In 1984, Grameen applied to the Central Bank for help setting up a housing
loan program for its borowers. Their application was rejected on the grounds
that the $125 suggested loan could not possibly build a suitable living
structure.[32] So Grameen instead proposed the idea of "shelter loans". They
were again rejected, this time on the grounds that their borrowers could not
afford non-income generating loans. Grameen changed tactics and applied a
third time, this time to make "factory loans", the explanation being that
borrowers worked from home, so the home was also a factory that made it
possible for borrowers to earn income. Grameen was rejected for a third time.
[33]

After this third rejection, Yunus, the bank’s founder, met personally with the
Central Bank governor to plead for their application. When asked if he thought
the borrowers would repay the loans, he replied, "Yes, they will. They do. Unlike
the rich, the poor cannot risk not repaying. This is the only chance they have."
Grameen was then allowed to add housing loans to their range of services.[34]

As of 1999, Grameen has made housing loans totaling $190 million to build
over 560,000 homes with near-perfect repayment. By 1989, their average
housing loan had grown to $300. That year, the Grameen housing program
received the Aga Khan International Award for Architecture.[35]
Grameen Bank's perception of people with
economic disadvantages
When Muhammed Yunus took the first steps toward establishing Grameen Bank
in Bangladesh and began to provide micro-credit loans to those living in abject
poverty in the rural area surrounding Jobra, he adopted and maintained two
basic premises. First, that credit is a human right; second, that the poor are
those who know best how to better their own situation.[36]

As Grameen bank has developed and expanded in the years since its
beginning, it continues to operate on those same two principles. Today,
Grameen bank still assumes that when individuals are provided credit, they will
be able to initiate upward social mobility for themselves through
entrepreneurial endeavors.[37] As a result, Grameen differs from many other
social justice efforts in that it does not include intensive rehabilitation training
programs for the disadvantaged persons it serves. Instead, Grameen gives its
borrowers freedom to pursue a better future using the skills they already
possess in the best way they can with membership in a five-person support
group being the only requirement.[36]

In an interview with PBS in 2006, (after sixteen years of experience with

Grameen Bank as a social business) Yunus expressed satisfaction in the micro-
credit system of Grameen bank as a motivation and an opportunity for the poor
to improve their own situations. He stressed that he has observed that
Grameen's borrowers attain a sense of confidence and self-sufficiency when
they pay back their loans from Grameen bank. While being careful not to
criticize charity's rightful place, he added that the recipient of a charitable gift
does not experience these long-term emotional benefits in the same way.

Operational statistics
Grameen Bank is owned by the borrowers of the bank, most of whom are poor
women. Of the total equity of the bank, the borrowers own 94%, and the
remaining 6% is owned by the Bangladesh government.[25]

The bank grew significantly between 2003-2007. As of January 2011, the total
borrowers of the bank number 8.4 million, and 97% of those are women.[25] The
number of borrowers has more than doubled since 2003, when the bank had
3.12 million members.[39] Similar growth can be observed in the number of
villages covered. As of October 2007, the Bank has a staff of more than 24,703
employees; its 2,468 branches provide services to 80,257 villages,[25] up from
the 43,681 villages covered in 2003.[39]
The bank has distributed Tk 684.13 billion (USD 11.35 billion) in loans, out of
which Tk 610.81 billion (USD 10.11 billion) has been repaid.[40] The bank claims
a loan recovery rate of 96.67%,[40] up from the 95% recovery rate claimed in
1998.[40] David Roodman has critiqued the accounting practices that Grameen
used to determine this rate.[27]

The global number of potential micro-borrowers is estimated to be 1 billion,

with a total loan demand of $250 billion. The present microfinance model is
serving 100 million people with $25 billion of loans.[41] The Grameen Bank is
95% owned by the local poor and 5% by the government.

Criticism
Some analysts have suggested that microcredit can bring communities into
debt from which they cannot escape.[53][54][55] Researchers have noted instances
when microloans from the Grameen Bank were linked to exploitation and
pressures on poor families to sell their belongings, leading in extreme cases to
humiliation and ultimately suicides.[56]

The Mises Institute's Jeffrey Tucker suggests that microcredit banks depend on
subsidies in order to operate, thus acting as another example of welfare.[57]
Yunus believes that he is working against the subsidized economy, giving
borrowers the opportunity to create businesses. Some of Tucker's criticism is
based on his interpretation of Grameen's "16 decisions," seen as indoctrination,
without considering what they mean in the context of poor, illiterate peasants.
[citation needed]

Maulana Ibrahim, an imam in Bangladesh, spoke out against the Grameen Bank
in 1993 for fostering "un-Islamic ways." He alleged that the lenders' pledge
required women to say they would not obey their husbands and would not live
in poverty anymore.[58]

The Norwegian documentary, Caught in Micro debt, said that Grameen evaded
taxes. The Spanish documentary, Microcredit, also suggested this. The
accusation is based on the unauthorised transfer of approximately US$100
million, donated by The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
(NORAD), from one Grameen entity to another in 1996, before the expiry of the
Grameen Bank's tax exemption.

Yunus denies that this is tax evasion:

There is no question of tax evasion here. The Government has provided

organizations with opportunities; we have made use of these opportunities with
aim of benefitting our shareholders who are the rural poor women of
Bangladesh.
 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Headquarter : Plot E-31, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh, GPO Box
No. 2100

Description
The Asian Development Bank aims for an Asia and Pacific free from poverty.
Approximately 1.4 billion people in the region are poor and unable to access
essential goods, services, assets and opportunities to which every human is
entitled.

Established in 1982, BRM's primary responsibilities include:

• Initiate and maintain dialogue with the Government of Bangladesh (GOB)

on issues that are of relevance to ADB operations in the country

• Strengthen project processing and portfolio management

• Prepare the country partnership strategy and its annual updates

• Strengthen working relations with the Government of Bangladesh,

development partners, NGOs, civil society, and the private sector
• Plan and prepare ADB's substantive economic and sector work for
Bangladesh

• Promote external relations and disseminate information about ADB and

its operations

United Nations
Development Programme
Headquarter : UN Offices,IDB Bhaban , E/8A Begum Rokeya Sharani

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar

Dhaka 1207

Bangladesh

Description
Since 1972, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been
partnering with the people and communities of Bangladesh at various levels to
build a resilient nation with strong focus on sustainable human development-
led growth. Since its inception, UNDP and its partners accomplished key
results in the areas of governance, poverty reduction, environment, energy and
climate change, disaster management, and achievement of Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Over the years of dedicated partnership with
government agencies and partners, UNDP Bangladesh is viewed as an honest
broker, bringing about transformational changes in the lives and livelihoods of
the people of Bangladesh.

UNDP Bangladesh is committed to assist Bangladesh and its people in

establishing sustainable pathways to development and a resilient nation. In
the 2013 Human Development Report, Bangladesh has been flagged as a
“rising star”, halving poverty and attaining gender parity in primary education.
Staying on course with these results, UNDP Bangladesh is working towards
achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 while gearing towards
middle income status for Bangladesh by 2021. We combine global networks
and best practices to indigenous knowledge and experiences to overcome
challenges in the areas of:

• Poverty Reduction and the Achievement of the MDGs

• Democratic Governance

• Crisis Prevention and Recovery

• Environment and Energy for Sustainable Development

UNDP Bangladesh brings together government agencies and development

partners to use aid effectively. In all our work, we have strong focus on
capacity building, human rights and women’s empowerment.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is the centralized official bureau in

Bangladesh for collecting statistics on demographics, the economy, and other
facts about the country and disseminating the information.[1]
Although independent statistical programs had existed in the country before,
they were often incomplete or produced inaccurate results, which led the
Government of Bangladesh establishing an official bureau in August 1974, by
merging four of the previous larger statistical agencies, the Bureau of
Statistics, the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, the Agriculture Census
Commission and the Population Census Commission.

In July 1975, the Statistics Division was created and placed under the Ministry
of Planning in order to control it administratively In 2002, the Statistics Division
merged with Planning Commission and the burea is now controlled by the
Ministry of Planning and office.

With its headquarters in Dhaka, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, as of

2008, has 23 regional statistical offices and 489 Upazilla/Thana offices located
in the 23 districts of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Institute of International

and Strategic Studies
Headquarter: 1/46, Old Elephant Road, Ramna, Dhaka-1000.

Description
Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) is a statutory

institution established on 25 June, 1978 by the Government of the People's

Republic of Bangladesh. The Institute was established with aim of the

undertaking and promoting research and deliberation on international affairs,

security and developmental issues. The Institute is also expected to advance

knowledge and understanding of contemporary international and strategic

issues in national and regional perspectives.

The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies Ordinance.

1984, ordinance No. XXVII of 1984, BIISS Law 2013 defines the objectives,

functions and organizational structure of the Institute. The general guidance

and superintendence of the affairs of the Institute are vested in a Board of

Governors, headed by the Chairman (appointed by the Government of the

People's Republic of Bangladesh) and consisting of Secretaries of the Ministries

of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Finance, the Principal Staff Officer (PSOs) of the

three services of Armed Forces, academics and professionals. The Director

General of the Institute is the Member-Secretary of the Board.

The Director General is the Chief Executive of BIISS who is appointed by the

Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. He directs and coordinates

all research and administrative activities of the Institute.

The research activities of the Institute are carried out by the Research Faculty

consisting of a team of full-time researchers with varied social sciences

background. An officer of the Armed Forces, usually of the rank of Colonel, is

also deputed to the Institute to undertake research in the fields of defence

related studies. The Institute is organized along territorial and functional

distribution of Divisions and Desks. There are five divisions in the Research

Faculty that are: (i) Defence Studies; (ii) Non-traditional Security Studies; (iii)

International Studies; (vi) Strategic Studies; and (v) Peace and Conflict Studies,

Each division is headed by a Research Director.

The Administrative Wing, headed by a Deputy Director (Administration), and

the Library and Documentation Centre, headed by a Deputy Director (Library

and Documentation) of the Institute are the two other important wings

providing support services and valuable inputs to research pursuits of the

Institute.

Association for Economic and

Development Studies on Bangladesh
Headquarter : 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada

Description
Association for Economic and Development Studies on Bangladesh (AEDSB) is a
devoted to the Economic and Development studies of Bangladesh. The AEDSB
was established in 1996 and formerly known as Bangladesh Development
Forum. It constitutes a professional body of economists, development
practitioners and others interested in the development of Bangladesh. It is
primarily based in North-America but has members from other parts of the
world including Europe, Australia and Bangladesh. It is governed by a nine
member elected Executive Committee elected for a two-year term.

Association for Economic and Development Studies on Bangladesh (AEDSB) has

three major aims:
1. To encourage and facilitate research on development issues of
Bangladesh and help in the wide dissemination of the findings of such research,

2. To promote policy reforms in Bangladesh through dialogue with policy-

makers and opinion-leaders, and through dissemination of relevant knowledge
and ideas, especially those based on cross-country experience and
international best-practice, and

3. To facilitate fruitful collaboration between Bangladeshi and other

interested professionals living abroad and researchers, policy-makers, opinion
leaders and development agents in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Institute of

Development Studies
Headquarter : E-17, Agargaon, Dhaka-1207

Description
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) is an
autonomous multi-disciplinary public research organization that conducts policy
research on development issues for Bangladesh. Supported by the Government
of Bangladesh, BIDS functions as a think tank, helping formulate socio-
economic policies. The institute conducts research and promotes study and
education in development economics, rural development, demographics and
social sciences.

The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) had its origin in

Pakistan, named as the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)
and established in June 1957. From the very beginning, PIDE was served by a
significant number of Bengali scholars and a distinguished body of foreign
scholars. Through its performance, PIDE attracted bright young economists and
social scientists who began their career at the Institute. The PIDE was moved to
Dhaka in January 1971.
After the emergence of independent Bangladesh in 1971, the Institute was
called the Bangladesh Institute of Development Economics (BIDE). Later on, a
Parliamentary Charter was awarded in 1974 and the Institute was renamed as
the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) to reflect its
multidisciplinary focus of development research. It was incorporated as an
autonomous body, governed by a high powered Board of Trustees under the
Chairmanship of the Minister of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic
of Bangladesh. Since 1974, through a process of national level institutional
restructuring, two other institutions––the Population Study Centre and the
National Foundation for Research on Human Resources Development–– were
merged with BIDS in 1982 and 1983 respectively.