Mahabub Alam Babu, Cumilla Correspondent:
Yesterday, the Inception Workshop of the research titled “Impact of Regulation on the Microfinance Sector of Bangladesh” conducted by BARD was held at National Local Government Institute, NILG. Fifty officials including representatives of various government ministries and departments, university professors and heads of various non-governmental organizations participated in the event. Executive Vice Chairman of Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA), Mr. Md Fasiullah was present as the Chief Guest in the workshop chaired by Director General, Bard Mr. Md. Harun-or-Rashid Mollah. Mr. Saleh Ahmad Mozaffar, Director General of NAELG and Additional Secretary to the Government was present as a special guest.
The research undertaken by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority or MRA, an organization formed to monitor and supervise the microcredit activities of private microcredit management organizations in Bangladesh, was conducted by Additional Director General Bard; Dr. Bard is managed by a four-member team headed by Abdul Karim.
Although the history of microfinance in Bangladesh is very old, a regulatory framework for microfinance has been created in recent times. In 2006, the Government of Bangladesh enacted the Microcredit Regulatory Authority Act, 2006 to bring private microcredit institutions under the regulatory framework. Under this Act, the government established the ‘Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA)’ to ensure transparency and accountability of the microcredit sector. The Microcredit Regulatory Authority MRA has been functioning for seventeen years. Seventeen years of MRA work, what positive changes have brought about in the sector, some aspects of the regulations have had a better impact; some aspects have not had the expected impact, what can be done in the future to get better results–a comprehensive and evidence-based question. Or to find out evidence based answers Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) has initiated the research and given the responsibility to BARD to conduct it.
In the introductory workshop Mr. Ranjan Kumar Guha, one of the members of the research team and Director (Projects) of Bard gave a presentation on the research background, objectives and research methodology. In the meeting, about twenty five officials from various public and private organizations gave their important opinions to make the research more fruitful. The study will be completed by December 2023. – Edited by Erfan Alam