Stanadard Chartered Bank supports, directly and indirectly, 1.1 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP and 3.3 per cent of total tax receipts to the Bangladeshi government, according to a recent independent study.
Through its direct tax payments, the bank is one of the single most important tax payers in Bangladesh, said a press release.Standard Chartered on Monday released the independent report on the social and economic impact of its operations in Bangladesh. This is the third in a series of studies which evaluate the overall social and economic impact of the bank’s activities.
The study, commissioned in 2012 and led by Professor Ethan Kapstein of Georgetown University in Washington DC, has found that Standard Chartered makes a significant contribution to ongoing economic development in Bangladesh.
The study also said that SCB supported as many as 466,000 jobs in Bangladesh, which equates to 0.6 per cent of the total jobs in the country. When its lending to financial institutions is included, the bank’s impact amounts to 655,000 jobs or 0.9 per cent of the labour market.
Besides, SCB contributed to 13.2 per cent of total Bangladeshi trade through its loans and trade finance facilities.
In addition, the bank helped Bangladesh receive its first-ever sovereign debt rating, financed 24 per cent of the total installed power in the country and was the first bank to introduce a number of innovations, including Bangladesh’s first ATM, credit card and international debit card.
Launched in 2009, this series of social and economic impact studies have previously looked at Ghana and Indonesia. Through these reports, among the first of their kind to be commissioned by an international bank, Standard Chartered aims to measure its impact on the economies where it operates and identify ways to build on this impact, said the press release.
-With New Age input
