Spend more on CSR amid pandemic, BB tells banks

Bangladesh Bank on Monday instructed banks to raise their corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure and allocate additional funds to it, for dealing with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The central bank asked banks to allocate an additional 1% fund of its net profits in 2020 to the CSR budget of 2021.

The lenders will be able to adjust the additional funds in the next three years’ CSR budget from 2022 to 2024, as per the BB notice.

Banks will have to expense essential food items, health care items and provide necessary assistance to the unemployed people from the CSR budget.

Banks will have to allocate 50% of its total CSR budget in the city corporation areas and the remaining 50% allocation for union, upazila and district level and it will have to make sure that any allocation would not be centralized in a particular area.

Banks will have to conduct the CSR activities with the assistance of the concerned deputy commissioner and through the top level non-government organizations (NGO) and micro finance institutions (MFIs).

The BB said that the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) will act as the coordinator and facilitator for the timely and proper implementation of CSR activities.

Banks will have to submit the implementation report of special CSR activities to the central bank’s sustainable finance department after completing the activities within July 30 this year.

Before the move, the BB in June last year asked banks to allocate 60% of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) expenditure for the health sector considering the current context of the pandemic.

The 60% CSR expenditure in the health sector should be ensured considering the current context of the pandemic, it clarified.