Academics and economists on Thursday suggested for curbing the interest rate of microcredit and providing non-financial services to the poor along with financial support to achieve the objectives of microfinance.
Micro credit is a system of social service dealing with the poor and moderately poor people and cannot be a financial service system to make profit for shareholders, they said.
They put forward the suggestions at a training workshop for media personnel on poverty alleviation strategies and microfinance organised by Institute of Microfinance at BRAC Center Inn in Dhaka.
Speaking the workshop, the institure’s chairman professor Wahiduddin Mahmud said the interest rate of microcredit should be adjusted in such a way to cover the operational cost of the institution only, but not to benefit any individual or organisation.
He said, ‘A scientific study for clarification of negative facet of microcredit system should conducted to find whether or not the net asset of the poor people who took microcredit is increasing or they are further sinking in the vicious cycle of poverty.’
Microfinance specialist Dewan AH Alamgir said Microfinance Institute should be a poor-friendly institute, not a commercial bank and the interest rate should be minimised by adopting information technology.
‘Nonfinancial services like access to market, training of the borrowers, policy making and human resources development is also important along with financial support,’ he added.
Professor SR Osmani of Ulster University, UK, said microcredit was essential in Bangladesh due to the absence of social security system.
Boishakhi TV’s chief executive officer Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul moderated the programme.
