Govt wants to ‘revive’ Grameen Bank

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday indicated that the government plans to “revive the operations of Grameen Bank” by settling the legal issues involving the country’s leading micro-creditor. “In order to do so, we will recast the board of directors of the Grameen Bank,” he said while answering a query regarding the future of Grameen Bank during an impromptu briefing at the secretariat‘s Finance and Banking Division office. According to the Grameen Bank Act, the government had appointed three of the four members of the quorum in 2015 that is running the bank until a new board is elected. Usually, the 12-member board comprises nine borrower-directors elected every three years. The three government-nominated directors are also in the board, one of whom serves as the chairman. The minister went on saying: “We will create new role for Grameen Bank. People repay their loan within a week in the existing system. The system will be withdrawn.” He also said that the authorities concerned would take initiative to settle the cases involving Grameen Bank within short time.