The government has decided to take a further Tk 235 crore from Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, created with contributions by migrant workers, to meet the required paid up capital for Probashi Kallayan Bank to turn it into a scheduled one, officials said.
Once the new transfer is made, WEWB’s contribution to PKB’s total paid up capital will stand at Tk 380 crore, although the government was supposed to provide the fund for its conversion into a scheduled bank, they said.
On November 8, 2017, an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by the finance secretary decided that WEWB would provide Tk 235 crore while the finance division would give Tk 15 crore.
PKB managing director ANM Masrurul Huda Siraji said that PKB would be launched as commercial bank within a month as the required paid up capital had been arranged for the bank.
Siraji also said that the conversion of PKB would be made with migrant workers’ money as the bank was established to render services to them.
Migration experts, however, expressed grave concern over the government decision to transfer the huge amount of money from WEWB as, they feared, it would greatly hamper the welfare of migrant workers.
Dhaka University international relations professor CR Abrar said that WEWB should not be used for implementation of the government’s development agenda.
‘As the government has taken moves for development of PKB, so it must mobilise money from its own resources, not from WEWB,’ he said.
Without evaluation of PKB’s performance by an independent commission, Abrar, also executive director of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, opined that the government had no right to remove such a big amount of money from WEWB.
‘The welfare fund should be used only londontoto for direct welfare of the migrants,’ he said.
The specialised bank was established on April 20, 2011 with the aim of assisting outbound workers by providing them with loans to bear migration-related costs, rehabilitating workers who return home and repatriating their remittances through its banking channel.
The banking division of the finance ministry had not cooperated to enable PKB run as a full-fledged commercial bank over the years, the bank officials alleged.
PKB started its journey with a capital of 100 crore, in which WEWB provided Tk 95 core while the finance division contributed only Tk 5 crore.
A scheduled bank requires a minimum capital of Tk 400 crore.
As per a decision of the finance ministry on April 16, 2017, WEWB provided Tk 50 crore to turn PKB into a commercial one. The remaining Tk 250 crore was supposed to be given by the finance division.
WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque observed that the government must specifically mention how WEWB would benefit from providing its money.
‘There should be transparent documents on how the welfare board would get back its money or how it would get dividends from the bank,’ he said.
Once PKB gets the status of a scheduled bank, he suggested, the government should reserve 49 per cent of its shares for the migrant workers in order to encourage remittance inflow and investment by migrant workers.
Migrant rights activist and Film4Peace Foundation chairman Pervez Siddiqui said that PKB had failed to run its operations successfully over the past six years due to inefficiencies of the management.
WEWB director general Gazi Mohammad Julhas told this correspondent that following the decision of the government they would provide Tk 235 crore to PKB and hold its 95 per cent ownership.
‘Board members will take decisions considering all aspects of migrant welfare,’ he said.
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