Chapter 13

Poverty Alleviation

Despite considerable thrust on poverty alleviation in all plan documents ever since the
independence of Bangladesh, a significant number of populations still lives below the poverty
line. Poverty can be divided into two categories- income poverty and human poverty. To
understand the poverty situation, it is necessary to clarify the momentum of the both. In respect of
income poverty 40 percent of the total population of this country lived in poverty situation in
2005 which has not been improved much as yet. According to the Human Development Report
2009 of UNDP, Bangladesh ranked 112th in respect of human poverty, whereas in South Asia
countries like India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Maldives ranked 88th, 101th, 102th and 66th
respectively.

It is a constitutional obligation of the Government to provide a reasonable living standard for the
citizens by alleviating poverty. In its election manifesto, the present Government has, therefore
laid special emphasis on poverty alleviation and pledged to eradicate poverty. It is to be noted
that yearly average rate of poverty reduction increased from 0.50 to 1.50 while human poverty
index went down to 32.0 from 41.6 due to adoption of different innovative programmes during
1996-2001, the present Government aims at reducing poverty rate from 25 to 15 within 2013 to
2021. Besides this, the Government has committed to build sustainable social safety net for the
hard core poor to fulfill its commitment.

Addressing poverty remains a great challenge mainly due to resource constraints. Bangladesh has
so far implemented five Five-Year Plans and one Two-Year Plan. The overarching goals of these
plans were to reduce poverty by accelerating economic development process. As an outcome of
these development activities, Bangladesh has made commendable progress in terms of reduction
of income poverty as well as human poverty.

To alleviate income and human poverty globally, different initiatives have been taken among
which Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is one. Bangladesh has received universal
appreciation for her success in reduction of human poverty in education, health and nutrition.
Bangladesh has made substantial progress in reduction of poverty, expansion of universal primary
education, eradication of gender disparity at both primary and secondary level of education,
reduction of child mortality rate, supply of safe drinking water and containing the spread of
communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis related targets. Bangladesh is
putting its best effort and on track to achieve other MDGs by 2015. Government has committed
in its election manifesto to achieve fully the goals of MDGs at least by 2017.

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To achieve these targets, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) titled ‘Unlocking the
Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction’ (for the period of FY2004-05 to
2006-07) was adopted and extended up to June/2008. As a sequel of the first PRSP, the second
PRSP titled ‘Moving Ahead: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction’ for the period
FY2008-09 to 2010-11 (NSAPR-II) was approved. Moreover, preparation of Sixth Five Year
Plan (SFYP) for 2011-2015 is in progress where poverty is an issue of importance.

Measurement of the Incidence of Poverty in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh Household Expenditure Survey (HES) was carried out first in FY 1973-74. In
subsequent years, a number of HESs was undertaken. It should be noted that only expenditure
information used to be collected in such surveys. HESs carried out up to FY 1991-92 were based
on Food Energy Intake (FEI) and Direct Calorie Intake (DCI) methods in order to measure the
incidence of income poverty. A person having daily calorie intake of less than 2122 kilo-calories
is considered to be in absolute (HES) poverty and 1805 kilo-calories in hard-core poverty.

In the HES conducted in 1995-1996, the BBS for the first time adopted the Cost of Basic Needs
(CBN) method. Similarly, in the Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) of 2000 and
2005, CBN method was used. With this method, non-food consumption is also considered for
constructing poverty index. The major findings of the HIES 2005 of BBS have been presented in
this chapter.

Trends of Poverty

Rate of income poverty (measured by CBN upper poverty line) declined from 58.8 percent to
48.9 percent during the period from 1991to 2000 (Table 13.1). The compound poverty reduction
rate per year is recorded at 1.8 percent. But the rate of reduction of poverty is higher in urban
areas (yearly rate 2.2) during this period. On the other hand, during 2000 to 2005, income poverty
also reduced from 48.9 to 40.0 and the compound reduction rate is 3.9. The reduction rate during
this period is also higher for the urban areas (yearly 4.2%).

Between 2000 and 2005 the depth (measured by poverty gap) and severity (measured by squared
poverty gap) of poverty declined simultaneously both in urban and rural areas. It is also to be
noted that during 1991to 2000 reduction rate of income poverty was faster in rural areas than in
urban areas.

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 Table 13.1 Present Trend of Income Poverty
Annual Change (%) 1991-92 (%) Annual Change (%)
2005 (%) 2000 (%) (2000-2005) (1991/92-2000)
Head Count Index
National 40.0 48.9 -3.9 58.8 -1.8
Urban 28.4 35.2 -4.2 44.9 -2.2
Rural 43.8 52.3 -3.5 61.2 -1.6
Poverty Gap
National 9.0 12.8 -6.80 17.2 -2.9
Urban 6.5 9.1 -6.51 12.0 -2.5
Rural 9.8 13.7 -6.48 18.1 -2.8
Squared Poverty Gap
National 2.9 4.6 -8.81 6.8 -3.8
Urban 2.1 3.3 -8.64 4.4 -2.7
Rural 3.1 4.9 -8.75 7.2 -3.8
Source: BBS, HIES-2005.

The trends of poverty on the basis of Head Count Ratio and DCI method is presented in Table
13.2

Table 13.2: Trends of Poverty based on Head Count Ratio and DCI Method
People below poverty line
National Rural Urban
Survey year People People People People People People
(in million) (%) (in million) (%) (in million) (%)
Poverty line 1: Absolute Poverty, Daily less than 2122 kilocalorie food intake
2005 56.0 40.4 41.2 39.5 14.8 43.2
2000 55.8 44.3 42.6 42.3 13.2 52.5
1995-96 55.3 47.5 45.7 47.1 9.6 49.7
1991-92 51.6 47.5 44.8 47.6 6.8 46.7
Poverty line 2: Hardcore Poverty, Daily less than 1805 kilocalorie food intake
2005 27.0 19.5 18.7 17.9 8.3 24.4
2000 24.9 20.0 18.8 18.7 6.0 25.0
1995-96 29.1 25.1 23.9 24.6 5.2 27.3
1991-92 30.4 28.0 26.6 28.3 3.8 26.3
Source: BBS, HIES-2005.

According to Head Count Ratio using DCI method, in 2005, the incidences of absolute poverty
were 40.4, at the national level, whereas these were 39.5 and 43.2 in rural and urban areas
respectively. Under this method, a reduction of absolute poverty is recorded at 4.1 percent from
2000 to 2005. People living below the poverty line in 2000 were 55.8 million, which increased to
56 million in 2005. Though the number of poor people increased by about 2 million during this
period, it increased at a slower rate than that of the previous period.

According to Head Count Ratio, using DCI method, in 2005 the incidence of hardcore poverty
were 19.5 percent, at the national level, whereas in the rural and urban areas this stood at 17.9 and
24.4 percent respectively. Under this method a reduction of hardcore poverty is recorded 0.5
percent at the national level, 0.8 percent in the rural area and 0.6 percent in the urban area. People

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living below hardcore poverty line in 2000 were 20.0 percent, which decreased to 19.5 percent in
2005. Though the poor people belonging to absolute poverty and hard-core poverty increased
during this period, it decreased as compared to 1991-92.

Head Count Ratio (HCR) on the basis of CBN method by Divisions

The Head Count Ratio of incidence of poverty in six administrative divisions in CBN method is
presented below:
Table 13.3: Divisionwise Incidence of Poverty (HCR) by CBN Method (in percentage)
2005 2000
National/Division Using the Lower Poverty Line
National Rural Urban National Rural Urban
National 25.1 28.6 14.6 34.3 37.9 20.0
Barisal 35.6 37.2 26.4 34.7 35.9 21.7
Chittagong 16.1 18.7 8.1 27.5 30.1 17.1
Dhaka 19.9 26.1 9.6 34.5 43.6 15.8
Khulna 31.6 32.7 27.8 32.3 34.0 23.0
Rajshahi 34.5 35.6 28.4 42.7 43.9 34.5
Sylhet 20.8 22.3 11.0 26.7 26.1 35.2
Using the Upper Poverty Line
National 40.0 43.8 28.4 48.9 52.3 35.2
Barisal 52.0 54.1 40.4 53.1 55.1 32.0
Chittagong 34.0 36.0 27.8 45.7 46.3 44.2
Dhaka 32.0 39.0 20.2 46.7 55.9 28.2
Khulna 45.7 46.5 43.2 45.1 46.4 38.5
Rajshahi 51.2 52.3 45.2 56.7 58.5 44.5
Sylhet 33.8 36.1 18.6 42.4 41.9 49.6
Source: BBS, HIES-2005.

Two poverty lines have been used to measure poverty. One is upper poverty line and the other is
lower poverty line. Using lower poverty line method at the national level, the rate of poverty is
25.1 percent while it is 40.0 percent using the upper poverty line. According to this method,
poverty incidence in the urban area is lower than the rural area.

Poverty on the basis of Land Ownership

Estimates of incidence of poverty (CBN) by ownership of land using both lower and upper
poverty lines have been presented in Table 13.4.

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 Table 13.4: Incidence of Poverty (CBN) by Ownership of Land -2005 (in percentage)
2005 2000
Size of Land
Holding Using the Lower Poverty Line
(Acres) National Rural Urban National Rural Urban
All Size 25.1 28.6 14.6 34.3 37.9 20.0
Land less 25.2 49.3 17.8 30.4 53.1 20.5
<0.05 39.2 47.8 23.7 43.3 48.8 22.3
0.05-0.49 28.2 33.3 11.4 40.0 41.7 12.6
0.50-1.49 20.8 22.8 9.1 29.6 30.6 15.4
1.50-2.49 11.2 12.8 2.7 21.9 22.9 1.4
2.50-7.49 7.0 7.7 3.0 11.5 12.4 0.0
7.50+ 1.7 2.0 0.0 4.0 4.1 0.0
Using the Upper Poverty Line
All Size 40.0 43.8 28.4 48.9 52.3 35.2
Land less 46.3 66.6 40.1 46.6 69.7 36.6
<0.05 56.4 65.7 39.7 57.9 63.0 38.3
0.05-0.49 44.9 50.7 25.7 57.1 59.3 27.3
0.50-1.49 34.3 37.1 17.4 46.2 47.5 27.4
1.50-2.49 22.9 25.6 8.8 34.3 35.4 10.2
2.50-7.49 15.4 17.4 4.2 21.9 22.8 9.1
7.50+ 3.1 3.6 0.0 9.5 9.7 0.0

Source: BBS, HIES-2005

In 2005, the estimates of incidence of poverty by ownership of land and using the upper poverty
line, were found to be 46.3 percent for landless households, 56.4 percent for owners of less than
0.05 acre of land, 44.9 percent for owners of 0.05-0.49 acre of land, 22.9 percent for 1.5-2.49 acre
of land, 15.4 percent for 2.50-7.49 acres of land and 3.1 percent for owners of 7.5 acres or more
land. In 2005, the estimates of HCR by ownership of land using the lower poverty line were
found to be 39.2 percent for land size less than 0.05 acre, 28.2 percent for 0.05 to 0.49 acre, 20.8
percent for 0.05-.49 acre, 11.2 percent for 1.5-2.49 acre, 7.0 percent for 2.50-7.49 acre and 1.7
percent for 7.5 acres or more land. So, it is not possible to improve the poverty situation of the
country without improving the condition of the landless marginal farmers.

Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption

The difference between expenditure and consumption expenditure is that expenditure includes
purchase of durable goods which is not included in consumption expenditure. Monthly household

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nominal income, expenditure and consumption expenditure from the surveys (1991-92 to 2005)
have been presented in Table 13.5.
Table 13.5: Monthly Household Nominal Income, Expenditure and Consumption Expenditure by
Residence
Average Monthly (Taka)
Year of
Survey Residence Income Expenditure Consumption
Expenditure
National 7203 6134 5964

2005 Rural 6096 5319 5165

Urban 10463 8533 8315
National 5842 4886 4542
Rural 4816 4257 3879
2000
Urban 9878 7360 7149
National 4366 4096 4026
Rural 3658 3473 3426
1995-96
Urban 7973 7274 7084
National 3341 2944 2904
Rural 3109 2721 2604
1991-92
Urban 4832 4377 4280
Source: BBS, HIES-2005

In the above table, household nominal income; expenditure and consumption expenditure have
increased gradually over the years. The monthly household nominal income in 2005 was
estimated at Tk.7203 at the national level, whereas it was estimated at Tk. 6096 in the rural area
and Tk. 10463 in the urban area. Monthly household income was Tk. 5842 at the national level in
2000. It increased by 23.3 percent in 2005 over the year 2000 and by 115.59 percent over 1991-
92 in nominal terms. The average monthly household expenditure was estimated at Tk. 6134 in
2005 at the national level, where as it was Tk. 5319 in the rural area and Tk. 8533 in the urban
area. In 2000, it was Tk. 4886, Tk. 4257 and Tk. 7360 at the national, rural and urban levels
respectively. The monthly average expenditure increased by 25.54 percent in 2005 over 2000 and
increased by 108.36 percent over 1991-92.

On the other hand, the monthly average household consumption expenditure was estimated at Tk.
5964 in 2005 at the national level, while it was Tk. 5165 in the rural area and Tk. 8315 in the
urban area. In 2000, it was Tk. 4542, Tk. 3879 and Tk. 7149 at the national, rural and urban levels
respectively. The monthly average consumption expenditure increased by 31.3 percent over 2000
and by 105.37 percent over 1991-92.

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Deciles Distribution of Income and Gini Coefficient

The percentage shares of income by deciles groups and Gini coefficient with rural and urban
break-down for the surveys conducted during 2000 and 2005 are presented in Table 13.6.

Table 13.6: Percentage Distribution of Income Accruing to Households in Groups (Deciles)

at national level and Gini Co-Efficient
Household 2005 2000
Income Group
Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban
National 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Lower 5% 0.77 0.88 0.67 0.93 1.07 0.79
Decile-1 2.00 2.25 1.80 2.41 2.80 2.02
Decile-2 3.26 3.63 3.02 3.76 4.31 3.07
Decile-3 4.10 4.54 3.87 4.57 5.25 3.84
Decile-4 5.00 5.42 4.61 5.22 5.95 4.68
Decile-5 5.96 6.43 5.66 6.10 6.84 5.60
Decile-6 7.17 7.63 6.78 7.09 7.88 6.74
Decile-7 8.73 9.27 8.53 8.45 9.09 8.24
Decile-8 11.06 11.49 10.18 10.39 10.97 10.46
Decile-9 15.07 15.43 14.48 14.00 14.09 14.04
Decile-10 37.64 33.92 41.08 38.01 32.81 41.32
Top 5% 26.93 23.03 30.37 28.34 23.52 31.32
Gini Co-Efficient 0.467 0.428 0.497 0.451 0.393 0.497

Source: BBS, HIES-2005

It is evident from Table 13.6 that income shares accruing to households belonging to Decile-1 to
Decile-5 decreased at the national level in 2005 over the year 2000. On the other hand, income of
the households belonging to Decile-6 to Decile-9 increased in 2005 over 2000. It may be noted
here that though the percentage share of income of the lowest 5 percent households was about 1
percent (0.93%) in 2000, but it decreased to 0.77 percent in 2005.Income of the top 5 percent
households were significantly declined at the national level (from 28.34% to 26.93 %). Above all,
the higher Gini co-efficient in 2005 over the year 2000 indicates that social inequality has
widened between the two periods.

Per Capita Expenditure on Consumer Goods and Services

According to Table 13.7, per capita expenditure on consumer goods and services at market prices
increased to Tk. 31,900 in FY 2008-09 from Tk. 11,108 in FY 1995-96. In this case, the
compound growth is 8.45 percent during 1995-2009. On the other hand, per capita expenditure on
consumer goods and services (at 1995-96 prices) increased to Tk. 15,609 from Tk. 11,108 during
FY1995-96 through FY 2008-09. Here the compound growth rate is 2.65 percent.

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 Table 13.7: Per capita Expenditure on Consumer Goods and Services (In Tk.)
Fiscal year Per capita Expenditure on Per capita Real Expenditure
Consumer Goods and Services at on Consumer Goods and
Market Prices* Services
1995-96 11108 11108
1996-97 11781 11332
1997-98 12529 11091
1998-99 13516 11176
1999-00 14353 11546
2000-01 15126 11937
2001-02 15952 12246
2002-03 17129 12598
2003-04 18456 12824
2004-05 20145 13147
2005-06 22241 13629
2006-07 24908 14336
2007-08 28521 14932
2008-09 31900 15609
Compound growth rate 8.45 2.65
(1996-09)
Note: * Calculated from private consumption data under GDP new series.
Source: ‘National Accounts Statistics’ of BBS, (Various issues) and calculated by Finance Division.

Recent Effect of Inflation

Inflation has negative effect on the poor segment of population in Bangladesh during FY2005-
2008. According to a report of the World Bank, the poverty line has upward trend during
April/2007-March/2008 because of 40 percent increase of price cost. As a result, the rate of
poverty reduction has not been reached the estimated rate (about 5%) during 2005-2008; instead
it decreased by only 2 percent. The global financial recession might have negative effect on
poverty reduction.

Social Safety-Net Programmes to tackle the aftermath of global financial recession

In the period following global financial recession, , the Government has increased the allocation
for social safety-net (food) programmes to Tk. 4,569 crore from Tk. 4,195 crore as an immediate
action under the revenue incentive package in FY 2008-09. Moreover, following steps have been
adopted as policy support under proposed medium and long –term programmes (2009-10):

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• VGF allocation would be increased from 2.25 lakh metric tonnes to 5.55 lakh metric tonnes and
TR allocation from 2.00 lakh metric tonne to 3.66 lakh metric tonnes.

• To achieve the targeted goal of poverty alleviation declared in the election manifesto and to
reinforce the programme of 100 days’ employment generation, so that aggregate demand does not
fall due to economic recession.

• Budget support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will be sought in order to
reinforce fiscal program of the Government.

• Bangladesh will also look for the fund created by the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development
Bank to support the economy.

• Special initiatives will be undertaken to increase the flow of micro-credit and investment fund
to Poverty Reduction Foundation, Palli Karma Shahayok Foundation (PKSF), Municipal
Development Fund (MDF), Social Development Foundation (SDF), Bangladesh NGO
Foundation (BNF), and Infrastructure Development Co. Ltd. (IDCOL).

• Rate and coverage of allowances for the poor elderly citizens, destitute women, insolvent
freedom fighters, physically handicapped, orphan- will be increased and widened.

• There will be an attempt to expedite the flow of existing micro-credit fund of Rural
Development Board, Directorate of Youth Development, Directorate of Social Well fair,
Directorate of Women Affairs, Directorate of Fisheries, and Directorate of Livestock and
BSCIC.

Selected Programmes for Poverty Alleviation

To attain the Millennium Development Goals declared by UN as well as to achieve the annual
target specified in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), about 58 percent of budget
resources were allocated for poverty reduction activities in FY2008-09. Government and Non-
government Organisations (NGOs) offer different programmes to provide employment
opportunities and income generating activities for the poor. These programmes contributed to
enhancing entitlement of the poor and at the same time empowered them to ameliorate their
condition by raising awareness. Besides, social safety net programmes like food for works
programme, VGD programme, construction and maintenance of rural infrastructure generate
employment opportunities for the rural poor. On the other hand, education expansion programmes
like food for education, special stipend and financial assistance, free primary education are
directly contributing to human development efforts. Young entrepreneurs would be encouraged in
future by increasing the number of beneficiaries of various allowances and providing necessary
capital to Karmashangsthan Bank.

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Social Safety-Net Programmes

Mainstreaming all the disadvantaged people including women and children in the development
process is the fundamental challenge for socio-infrastructure development. As many as 66
programmes were implemented in the social security and social empowerment sector in FY 2008-
09 under different Ministries/Divisions. The programmes were: cash transfer (special and
different other allowance) programme, food security programme, and micro-credit programme.
Under these programmes, the Government allocated Tk. 12,198.48 crore in the revised budget of
FY 2008-09, which was 12.96 percent of the total budget outlay and 1.98 percent of GDP.
Classification of Key Social Safety-Net Programmes in Bangladesh
ƒ Cash transfer programmes( Different allowances);
ƒ Cash transfer programmes(Special allowances);
ƒ Food security programme;
ƒ Micro-credit programmes for self-employment
ƒ Fund for Poverty alleviation.
Cash Transfer Programmes
• Old-Age Allowance Programme;
• Allowances Programme for Widowed, Deserted and Destitute Women;
• Honorarium Programme for Insolvent Freedom Fighters;
• Training and Self-Employment Programme for Insolvent Freedom Fighters and their
dependants;
• Fund for Rehabilitation of the Acid-Burnt and the Physically Handicapped;
• Allowance for the Fully Retarded;

• Allowance for Poor Lactating Mothers

• Food for Works Programme.

Old-Age Allowance Programme

Under the Ministry of Social Welfare, the budget allocation for this programme was Tk. 600.00
crore in FY 2008-09. Monthly old age allowance has been increased to Tk. 250 from Tk. 220 and
the number of beneficiaries increased to 20 lakh from 17 lakh during this period.

Allowance Programme for Widowed, Deserted and Destitute Women

Under this programme, monthly allowance for the Widowed, Deserted and Destitute Women
was revised to Tk. 250 from Tk. 220 and the beneficiary coverage stood at 9 lakh in FY 2008-09.
In FY 2008-09, the budget allocation for this programme was Tk. 270.00 crore and Tk. 269.02
crore has been distributed among 7.8 lakh recipients up to June 2009.

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Fund for Rehabilitation of the Acid-Burnt Women and the Physically Handicapped

For rehabilitation of acid-burnt women, the Ministry of Social Welfare has introduced this fund
under which each victim receives Tk. 10,000. In FY 2008-09, the Government allocated Tk. 2.00
crore for this fund which has been disbursed.

Allowance for the Fully Retarded

The Ministry of Social Welfare is implementing this programme. To provide subsistence to fully
retarded persons, the allowance has been enhanced from Tk. 220 to Tk. 250 in FY 2008-09. Total
number of beneficiaries stood at 200,000 and Tk. 60.00 crore has been allocated for this
programme, while Tk. 22.38 crore has been distributed during this period. Besides this, stipend
programme for disabled students has been introduced since FY 2007-08 under which Tk. 6.00
crore has been allocated in FY 2008-09 and the total number of beneficiaries stands at 13,041.

Honorarium Programme for Insolvent Freedom Fighters

In FY 2008-09, about one lakh insolvent freedom fighters were provided with a monthly grant @
Tk. 900. The budget allocation for this programme was Tk. 180.00 crore in FY 2008-09.

Training and Self-Employment Programme for Insolvent Freedom Fighters and Their
Dependants

To provide employment opportunities and to enhance the standard of living of freedom fighters,
the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has initiated micro-credit programme at the field level
executed by BRDB. Tk. 25.00 crore has been allocated to BRDB up to FY 2006-07. As many as
2, 93, 10 insolvent freedom fighters and their dependants from 64 districts have been included in
the training and self-employment programmes under Youth Development Training Centres. The
purpose of this training programme is to provide skill development training on different trades
either individually or in groups (target group) to make them capable of being self-employed.

Allowance for Poor Lactating Mothers

According to poverty map of the country, an amount of Tk.21.20 crore has been allocated among
60,000 poor and pregnant women in FY 2008-09.

Progress of different programmes under Food Assistance Programme

Food for Works Programme: Under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, the
allocation of food grain for this programme was 3.60 metric tonnes in FY 2008-09, and up to
June 2009, 36315 projects are being implemented at a cost equivalent to 2.96 lakh metric tonnes
of food grains during this period.

Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) Programme: The Ministry of Food and Disaster
Management has distributed 5.25 lakh metric tonnes food grain among 72, 90,262 beneficiaries in

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FY 2008-09. Due to global financial recession, the Government has increased allocation against
this programme.

Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Programme: The Ministry of Women and Children
Affairs is implementing this programme. There was an allocation of 2.61 lakh metric tonnes of
food grains under this programme and 2.6 lakh metric tonnes food grains was distributed in FY
2008-09,

Test Relief (TR) Programme: The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management allocated 2.69
lakh metric tonnes food grains in FY 2008-09. 2, 26,995 projects were being implemented at a
cost equivalent to 3.61 lakh metric tonnes of food grains during this period. This programme has
created job opportunities for 4.49 lakh labourers. TR allocation has also been increased recently
for the impact of global financial recession.

GR Programme: Under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, 48,761 metric tonnes of
food grains and Tk. 2.28 crore were distributed in FY 2008-09 through this programme. Besides
this, Tk 21.08 crore has been distributed among destitute for house building.

Special Poverty Alleviation Programmes

Along with different sectoral programmes, the present Government in fulfillment of its
commitment has started implementing different innovative projects such as Asrayon, Grihayon,
Adorsha Gram and Gharey Fera.

Programmes under Poultry and Livestock Sector to Alleviate Poverty

Artificial insemination is an important and successful programme in livestock sector. In FY 2008-

09, about 20.00 lakh (2 million) cattle have been artificially inseminated through 2069 artificial
insemination centres of the country. Besides, small farmers and peasants are given advice and
training on poultry and livestock rearing.

Programmes under Fishery Sector to Alleviate Poverty

As a part of its poverty reduction programmes, the Government has introduced different
programmes in the area of production of fish spawn and fries, training for human development,
fish management, establishment of safe sanctuaries for fish, implementation of fish preservation
law, Jatka protection and fish research. 2.71 metric tonnes of carp spawn and 0.41 fries were
produced in FY2008-09.

Fund for Housing the Homeless

As of June 2009, Tk.115.66 crore has already been released against an allocation of Tk. 204.26
crore for rural housing programme and 46,567 houses have already been constructed where the
number of beneficiaries stands at 2.30 lakh. In addition, Tk. 10.84 crore has been released as
grant. It is worth mentioning that 404 NGOs are implementing the programme and covered 400

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upazilas of 64 districts of the country. So far, Tk. 79.12 crore has been recovered against the total
recoverable amount of Tk. 86.85 crore with recovery rate of 91.10 percent.

Programmes of the Karmasangsthan Bank for generating employment for the unemployed
youth

Karmasangsthan Bank has undertaken special credit programmes to utilise the unemployed
especially the educated unemployed youth of the country in different production-oriented and
income-generating activities. In FY2008-09, 7 new branches were opened raising the number of
branches to 110. Karmasangsthan Bank distributed Tk. 482.36 crore among 1, 43,943 borrowers
up to June 2009. Tk. 391.59 crore was recovered against cumulative recoverable loans of Tk.
435.15 crore, indicating a recovery rate of 90 percent.

Some special credit programmes of Karmasangthan Bank are given below:

• Micro-Credit Support for Employment of Voluntarily Retired/Retrenched Labour/

Employees of Mills and Industries

Under an agreement between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Karmasangsthan
Bank, Karmasangsthan Bank is implementing the programme for alleviation of poverty of
voluntarily retired/retrenched industrial workers by creating employment opportunities and
retraining activities. Under this programme, Tk. 69.45 crore has been disbursed among
12,777 borrowers and Tk 42.13 crore recovered against recoverable amount of Tk. 56.11
crore showing recovery rate of 75 percent in FY 2008-09.

• Assistance for Agro-based Industries

Under an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and Karmasangsthan Bank,

Karmasangsthan Bank is implementing this programme. As of June 2009, an amount of Tk.
39.99 crore has been distributed among 1622 borrowers against an allocation of Tk 50.00
crore. Tk. 20.24 crore has been recovered against recoverable amount of Tk. 22.24 crore with
the recovery rate of 91 percent. Both funds are used as revolving fund as per the agreement.

Abashan (Poverty Alleviation and Rehabilitation) Project

Abashan project is being implemented at a cost of Tk. 716.00 crore as a follow-on project of the
Ashrayon project which began in 1997. Till 30 June 2009, 54,400 families have been
rehabilitated at a cost of Tk. 566.81 crore. The main objective of the programme is to provide
land, accommodation, training, credit, education, health service, family planning, pure drinking
water, electricity, improved transportation system and tree plantation facility and to create income
generating activities for alleviating poverty of 65,000 landless, homeless and destitute families at
a cost of Tk. 715.98 crore and 1.06 metric tonnes of food grains. 45,167 families have received

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orientation and trade based training and 40,167 families have been provided with micro- credit
amounting Tk. 28.62 crore.

Youth Development through Self-employment

Considering the importance of youth participation in the development process, the Department of
Youth Development trained 32.03156 lakh youths up to June 2009. Out of the trained youths,
17,90,262 youths became self –reliant through self-employment. An amount of TK. 845.41crore
including revolving fund have been sanctioned among 7.3229 lakh beneficiaries as loan up to
June 2009 and an amount of Tk. 717.32 crore (89.62%) has been recovered. This is consistent
with the Government’s commitment to generate employment for one unemployed male or female
from each family for at least 100 days in a year.

Poverty Reduction and Employment Generation Activities under Ministry of Women and
Children Affairs

Under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, a total of 750,000 distressed and ultra-poor
women have been receiving food assistance and development package training. In FY 2008-09 an
amount of Tk. 839.18 lakh has been allocated. Vulnerable Group Development for Ultra-poor
(VGDUP) project provides life skill training on income generating activities as well as Nutrition,
Primary Health, Human rights, AIDS, Reproductive Health, Gender and Rights issues and well
Environmental issues. In addition to training, 80,000 VGD women are receiving support in the
form of subsistence allowance, asset transfer and savings generation so that they can engage in
self employed income generating activities. An amount of Tk. 3000.00 lakh has been allocated to
accomplish those activities in FY 2008-09. Besides this, a micro-credit programme has been
taken up to create opportunity for poor and distressed women to develop their socio-economic
condition through self-employment. Under the micro-credit programme for self-employment of
women, an amount of Tk. 1,325 lakh has been allocated during FY 2008-09. Under the ‘Micro-
credit Programme for self employment’ of the Department of Women Affairs at a cost of
Tk.3,225.00 lakh, the amount of disbursement stand at Tk. 2045.00 lakh and the total number of
beneficiaries is 65930 during this period. The cumulative disbursed amount stood at Tk. 5,895.70
lakh in FY 2008-09. Moreover, under the programme titled ‘Grant for Poor Distressed Women
and Children’ an amount of Tk. 263.51 lakh distributed by same department to 12734 poor
women and children for their welfare during the period from FY1995-96 to FY2008-09. Further,
the establishment of hostel for employed women, day care centre for children, sales and display
centres for marketing of commodities produced by women entrepreneurs, training centres with
training facilities (training related to handicrafts, agriculture and computer) in various places is
creating self-employment opportunities for women.

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Poverty Reduction under the Ministry of Social Welfare

The Ministry of Social Welfare is delivering a good number of programmes for poverty reduction
and human resource development. The poverty reduction programme is one of the most important
among the social integration programmes undertaken by the ministry. Some of its programmes
are: Rural Social Service (RSS) Programme, Urban Community Development (UCD)
Programme, Poverty Alleviation through Rural Maternal Centre (RMC), Rehabilitation
Programme for Acid-burnt Women and Physically Disabled. To alleviate poverty through these
four programmes, revolving funds are invested as micro-credit among the target group. The total
amount of seed money for these programmes stands at Tk. 284.041 crore. The cumulative amount
of recovery stands at Tk. 536.578 crore with the recovery rate of 85 percent. Under these
programmes as many as 60,988 beneficiaries have received vocational training and 83105
beneficiaries became literate, in FY 2008-09. Moreover, the awareness-building activities on
primary health care have been extended to 29, 04,257 beneficiaries and 1,83,346 beneficiaries
were motivated on family planning matters during this period.

Social Security Programmes under the Department of Social Welfare are as follows:

• Social Security Programme: Considering the socio-economic condition of the destitute,

poor and physically handicapped, the Government has introduced Old Age Allowance,
Allowance for Acid Burnt Women and Physically Handicapped and Insolvent Freedom
Fighters Allowance programmes under social security programmes. Among these
programmes, the old-age allowance programme is a major programme and Tk. 600.0
crore has been allocated for Old- programme in FY 2008-09 with a beneficiary coverage
of 20 lakh elderly people who received allowance @ Tk. 250/- per month. Moreover,
Tk. 6.00 crore has been allocated as stipend for 13041 disabled students during
this period.
• Human Resource Development Programme: To maintain food, lodging,
training and rehabilitation of 10,375 orphans, the Government is running 85
orphanages throughout the country. The Government has disbursed Tk. 37.8
crore as capitation grant for enlisted non-government orphanages which has been
distributed among 43,383 orphans at the rate of Tk 700.00 per head in FY 2008-
09.
Besides these, there are other programmes which also help the poor and the
destitute such as ‘Programmes on Welfare and Services Delivery’, ‘Programmes
on Addressing Social Disintegration’, ‘Community Empowerment Programme’,
‘Environment and Aforestation Programme’.

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Activities of the Department of Cooperatives

In tandem with helping the people to become self-reliant by organizing co-operatives, the
Department of Cooperatives also plays a role in poverty alleviation by involving them in different
economic activities. Up to June 2009, there have been 1,64,514 registered cooperative societies in
Bangladesh with 85,02, 713 individual members which is 5.5 percent of the total population.
Production and marketing of milk has been done successfully by the cooperatives like Milkvita,
in Bangladesh. Milkvita has set a unique example of rural cooperative, particularly in milk
collection, processing and marketing, which also have direct contribution to poverty reduction in
Bangladesh. Bangladesh Shamabaya Bank Limited (BSBL), another national cooperative society,
is providing agricultural credits among the farmers for boosting up agricultural production and
land development. During FY 2008-09, BSBL has disbursed and recovered Tk. 38.28 crore and
Tk. 32.32 crore respectively. Its present working capital has been raised to taka 365.94 crore. On
the other hand, under ‘Small Farmers Development Foundation (SFDF)’ an amount of Tk.
2084.22 lakh has been disbursed among 12643 beneficiaries for its credit operation. Till June
2009, a total of Tk. 3,516.62 lakh has been disbursed and an amount of Tk. 2,252.35 lakh has
been recovered. The recovery rate of credit stands at 96 percent. The total number of beneficiaries
of the Foundation is 24,226 of whom 96 percent are female.

Specialised Activities for Poverty Alleviation:

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Poverty Alleviation

It is widely recognised that the use of information and communications technology (ICT) has the
potential to speed up the process of achieving the MDG of halving poverty by 2015. The
Government recognised ICT as the thrust sector and in its election manifesto the Government
pledged to make the ICT sector successful to establish ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021where there
will be huge employment opportunities, sustained growth and no curse of poverty.

Rural Infrastructure Development Programme

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Ministry of Local Government,
Rural Development and Co-operatives, has been implementing various rural infrastructure
development programmes, like construction of rural roads, bridges/culverts, growth centres, and
embankments. LGED is also providing micro credit for creating self-employment by undertaking
community- based resource management project, infrastructure development project for market
place in char area and city development project in urban area. In FY 2008-09, under these 3
development projects, Tk. 4.01crore, Tk.68.16 crore and Tk.20.96 crore (total 93.13 crore) has
been disbursed as credit. Up to June/2009, the cumulative disbursement and recovery stood at
Tk.206.95 crore and Tk.145.92 (84%) respectively under the micro credit programme.

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Palli Daridrya Bimochan Foundation (PDBF)

Palli Daridra Bimochon Foundation (PDBF) is dedicated to alleviate rural poverty and promote
socio-economic advancement of the disadvantaged rural people. The objective of the PDBF is to
mobilize the rural poor by providing them effective financial support, skill development,
leadership and social development training to empower them socially and economically.
Approximately 95 percent members of PDBF is female. PDBF disbursed a total of Tk. 416.60
crore as loan to the members upto June, 2009. To develop the skill on various income generating
activities of members, PDBF trained by his own Technical Assistance Team (TAT) a total of
1,32,231 members for 3,35,591 person days. On the other hand, a total of 891 members were
trained as para technician and 57,760 members were trained on social and leadership
development training for 1,78,134 person days.

Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), Comilla

BARD is implementing a programme titled’ Comprehensive Village Development Programme

(CVDP) at Burichong upazila in Commilla’ as a national village development model programme
of BARD. This programme has been taken up for implementation over a period of June 2008 to
June 2011. The main objective of this programme is to eradicate poverty by providing training for
the poor (women and men) in the project area and developing infrastructure (e.g school, culvert,
roads, community centre and installation of deep tube well for safe water). In FY 2008-2009, an
amount of Tk. 2.57 crore was distributed to 303 women as micro credit where recovery stood at
Tk. 2.52 crore with repayment rate of around 98 percent. Besides this, BARD has organised 143
training courses, seminars, workshops for 5641 participants of different organisations.

Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra

Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra, has arranged 227 training courses attended by 8774
participants’ during FY 2008-09. Besides, to develop replicable model for rural development and
poverty alleviation, RDA is implementing action research projects such as comprehensive Village
Development Programme (CVDP), creation of additional employment, poverty alleviation
through irrigation and water management, poverty alleviation through improved irrigation
technology transfer in southern and hill tracts area, good seed initiative (GSI) etc. RDA has
formed 300 cooperative societies in four upazilas under CVDP where 36613 beneficiaries from
29,556 families have been involved. During FY2008-2009 through all these projects an amount
of Tk. 6.19 crore was provided as loan of which TK. 4.38 crore was recovered with the recovery
rate of 83 percent.

Upcoming Programmes (2009-2010):

The present government is actively considering several programmes for execution to
meet the pledges of election manifesto. Included among them are: Giving priority to Ultra-

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poor/hardcore poor area, a social safety net programme titled ‘Employment for Ultra-poor/
hardcore poor for 100 days’ would be undertaken according to ‘Upazila Poor Maping’ in the FY
2009-2010.

• To create employment for the unemployed youth having the educational qualification of HSC
and above, a national service scheme will be introduced; ‘Shishu Bikash Kendro’ by at the
initiative of non- government development agencies would be introduced to help resettle
street children of age 6-18 and provide safe home for them along with providing primary and
technical education and health service.

• A programme will be undertaken for establishing ‘Service for the disabled and the help
centre’ to provide ‘Assistive device’, health and information services to the disabled people
of the country.

• A project titled ‘one house, one farm’ will be implemented to make each house as an
individual economic unit. This will ensure participation of the poor especially women in
development and income generating activities/programmes, provide skill development
training on agro-based productive and self-employment activities.

Micro-credit Programmes of NGOs

NGOs are assisting in the implementation of different development programmes undertaken by
the Government. Besides this, during flood, draught, and other natural calamities, NGOs work
hand in hand with the Government. According to Credit and Development Foundation (CDF)
statistics, up to June 2009, the total number of active members was 2.58 crore among which 2.17
crore were female and cumulative disbursement of micro-credit among members was Tk.
86,138.17 crore with the rate of recovery being 96.56 percent. During this period, the total
amount of savings of these organisations stood at Tk. 3,606.24 crore and Tk. 83,721.43 crore was
disbursed among different sectors. Of this amount, Tk. 34,070.8 crore was disbursed against
small business, Tk. 3,267.9 crore against transport, Tk. 10,279.7 against livestocks, Tk. 3,162.3
crore against fisheries, Tk. 11,277.2 crore against agriculture, Tk. 2,587.9 crore against
handicrafts, Tk. 603.4 crore against health, Tk. 211.53 against education, Tk. 449.8 against
housing and the rest was against other sectors.

Activities of major NGO's

BRAC: Since its establishment in 1972, BRAC has been experimenting with micro finance since
1974. This is the largest NGO providing micro-credit. Other than micro-credit, it also actively
participates in health-care, education as well as social development activities. In FY 2008-09,
BRAC has disbursed Tk. 8,092.52 crore and realised Tk. 7,876.71 crore, where the number of
beneficiaries is 82,97,985 (79,68,810 are women). Under a programme titled ‘Challenging the

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Frontiers of Poverty Reduction’ (CFPR), 3, 05,614 women were trained of whom 1, 02,175 were
provided with assets in 46 districts.

ASA: Established in 1974, ASA started its activities as a specialised micro-finance service
provider during the 1990s. It has gradually developed itself into a self-reliant organisation
promoting micro-credit in the world. It is the only organisation which has been implementing and
expanding micro credit programme at the lowest cost. Poor women are provided with Tk. 5000 to
Tk. 15000 as an initial loan under the small credit programme. At the end of June 2009, the total
loan disbursed on a cumulative basis stood at Tk. 30,203.9 crore, the outstanding amount
(principal) was Tk. 2,368.7 crore among 45.7 lakh borrowers and the number of ASA’s active
members stood at around 59.1 lakh.

SWANIRVAR BANGLADESH: Swanirvar Bangladesh is instilling the spirit of self-reliance by

providing credit from the State-owned Commercial Banks, PKSF and other sources. Since its
inception to June 2009, Swanirvar Bangladesh disbursed a sum of Tk. 3,959.41 crore to 28,
07,497 landless people. The programme of the organisation has been extended to cover 52
districts, 188 upazilas and 14,150 villages. Up to June 2009, total savings collected was Tk. 52.20
crore and the number of persons trained in poultry, pisci-culture and cow fattening was 89,
6,755. During FY 2008-09, a sum of Tk. 104.43 crore has been disbursed to 1,03,824 landless
men and women for poverty reduction and self employment. The total loan recovered during this
period stands at 97.98 crore with the recovery rate of 94 percent.

PROSHIKA: Proshika’s approach to credit is ‘Credit plus Credit’- a system under which not
only credit is given but also proper training, technical assistance, market facilities as well as
social and other development supports are provided. Proshika impart training on areas like
organic agriculture, irrigation, livestock, apiculture, sericulture, social forestry, homestead
gardening and small business for its beneficiaries under micro-credit programme for sustainable
economic development, income and employment generation of its group members. A total of
Tk.4,202 crore has been disbursed against 12.42 lakh projects to create employment/self-
employment opportunities for the poor. Up to June/2009 an amount of Tk. 3,846 crore has been
recovered where number of beneficiaries is 28, 11,857.

TMSS: Thangamara Mohila Sobuj Sangha has been working for poverty alleviation, socio-
economic development and empowerment of women since 1980. It started its micro-credit
programme in 1985 and its aim is to bring about social development through development of the
deprived poor women. Besides PKSF, this organisation is implementing micro-credit programme

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with the financial assistance of ADB, World Bank, DFID, EU and Bangladesh Bank. Up to June
2009, the total amount of micro-credit distributed was Tk. 3119.375 crore, where the recovery
rate was Tk. 2774.22 crore and the yearly increase of the number of beneficiaries stood at 7,
25,207.

Shakti Foundation: This organisation is engaged in providing credit facility for the
disadvantaged women living in the slums of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Comilla, Bogra,
Rajshahi and other major cities and towns. Besides, it also provides help for health-care, business
entrepreneurship and social development of women. Up to June 2009, the growth rate of
members was 20.59 percent, disbursement of loan stood at Tk. 305.145 crore and the recovery
rate was 21.40 percent.

Society for Social Development: This organisation came into being in 1986 with an aim to
contribute to the process of sustainable social development through mobilization and building
awareness on basic rights with special emphasis on health of the poor and the disadvantaged
communities.

BURO, Bangladesh: This organisation was established to alleviate poverty by extending credit
programme for the poor. Side by side, during FY 2008-09, it also actively participated in health
care, pre-primary education, women development and empowerment, water and sewerage
management, family planning, plantation and social forestry, disaster management etc. The total
disbursement of credit and its recovery stood at Tk. 695. 96 crore and Tk. 598.12 crore
respectively.

Besides these, other NGOs are also contributing to the process of socio-economic development of
the country. Status of micro-credit programmes of some major NGOs is presented bellow:

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 Table 13.08: Status of Micro-Credit Programmes of Major NGOs
(Tk.in crore)
Cumulative
Calendar Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 *2009 up to June
2009
BRAC
Disbursement(Tk.) 1706.59 2070 2590.15 3254.21 4261.54 6232.87 8428.90 **8092.52 36636.78
Recovery (Tk.) 1614.78 1838.03 2290.32 2926.84 3626.39 5036..93 7560 7876.71 32770
Beneficiaries 3531513 3402475 4858763 4837099 5310317 7370847 8090369 8297985 45699368
Female 3516838 3392976 3872110 4029265 5140494 7108155 7796769 7968810 42825417
Male 14675 9499 131477 128865 169823 262692 293600 329175 1339806
ASA

Disbursement 1595.22 2001.54 2403.92 3317.92 4131.61 5395.34 6084.18 2505.93 27435.66
Recovery 1322.19 1807.93 2208.4 2822.82 3712.00 5060.46 6068.08 3266.93 26268.81
Beneficiaries 2136165 2341819 2996660 5988134 6455979 6674058 7276677 5912550 39782042
Female 2055628 225818 2897503 3917566 4303787 4716922 5144662 4446185 27708071
Male 80537 83701 99157 2070568 2152192 1957136 2132015 1466365 10041671
***PROSHIKA

Disbursement 406.76 357.4 277.07 288.13 316.50 312 267 119 2343.86
Recovery 428.40 371..21 350.61 330.70 343.09 298 284 217 2623.01
Beneficiaries 3165370 56837 49710 20076 15030 8209 6723 847 3273092
Female 406.76 1667802 36496 1719342 11478 6759 3640 764 3410191.76
Male 428.4 1033151 13214 1050764 3552 1450 3083 83 2092511.4
Swanirvar
Bangladesh
Disbursement 39.46 40.66 60.75 75.91 91.36 96.30 96.73 67.41 568.58
Recovery 33.32 34.58 43.38 61.54 70.94 75.91 84.57 57.39 461.63
Beneficiaries 54763 54217 62915 94945 129894 101565 104702 66085 669086
Female 49681 50420 59775 90565 126332 98807 97342 54027 626949
Male 5082 3797 3140 4380 3562 3057 7360 12058 42436
Caritas
Disbursement 51.41 90.13 60.43 106.18 118.24 147.78 140.20 78.08 792.45
Recovery 54.89 82.69 58.76 94.97 111.85 137.21 133,71 74.47 748.55

Beneficiaries 4961 33727 (18657) 14936 4227 4362 99.71 5594 49249.71

Female 5255 24351 (5526) 14124 3831 7091 10524 6574 66224

male (294) 9376 (13131) 812 396 (2729) (553) (980) 1421

TMSS

Disbursement 90.14 129.91 168.32 292.11 409.79 514.80 571.93 656.01 2833.01

Recovery 77.44 109.23 148.75 220.02 359.99 457.69 548.15 606.34 2527.61

Beneficiaries 33600 54942 23937 115470 68587 99826 89544 22462 508368

Shakti
Foundation
Disbursement 61.11 84.28 102.41 150.42 179.97 176.13 202.74 162.59 1119.65

Recovery 56.40 70.71 84.96 124.46 145.03 1175.13 181.11 156.65 1994.45

Beneficiaries 75137 100464 114701 157517 167113 156108 181990 299158 1252188

BURO,
Bangladesh
Disbursement 69.57 108.27 152.80 236.84 318.03 375.16 590.58 695.96 2547.21

Recovery 58.25 93.78 132.52 196.00 277.45 337.27 465.26 598.12 2158.65

No. of 124446 184609 221366 273286 331329 376710 602273 672467 2786486
beneficiaries

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 Calendar Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 *2009 Cumulative
up to June
2009
Society For
Social
Services(SSS)
Disbursement 27.22 67.36 84.78 165.52 260.77 354.06 432.69 **523.80 1916.2

Recovery 26.02 52.73 70.35 130.71 204.55 310.89 383.87 457.82 1636.94

Beneficiaries 74096 106703 133404 184591 260110 320110 362636 362636 1804286
Female 72877 102326 129154. 179511 253387 311383 351050 11586 1411274

Male 1219 4377 4250 5080 6623 8727 11586 351050 392912

Total
Disbursement 4047.48 4949.55 5900.63 7887.24 10087.81 13604.44 16814.95 12901.3 76193.4
3671.69 4460.89 5388.05 6908.06 8851.29 12889.49 15708.75 13311.43 71189.65
Recovery
Source: Concerned NGOs. * data of 2009 is from January’09 to June’09. **data of BRAC and SSS for 2009 is from July’08 to
June’09. *** number of beneficiaries of Proshika in 2002 is shown in cumulative.

Grameen Bank

Asset less people can also engage themselves in income generating activities if they are provided
with credit support. Under this assumption, Grameen Bank provides collateral free credit to the
landless poor. The loaned amount is repaid on weekly instalments and all transactions are closed
and cleared by the members in their weekly meetings. Status of micro-credit programme of
Grameen Bank is given in the Table 13.09.

Table: 13.09. Micro-Credit Programmes of Grameen Bank

Cumulative up Cumulative
to June 02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 (Up to June
'09)

Disbursement 16141.12 1879.81 2335.62 3148.37 4590.55 5019.44 5561.85 7184.59 45861.35

Recovery 14919.25 1676.33 1980.16 2581.54 3769.82 4802.52 4955.09 6105.34 40790.05

Rate of 92.43 99.00 99.96 98.95 98.49 98.61 98.11 97.81 97.81
recovery (%)
No. of
Branches 1175 7 76 279 648 246 86 40 2557

No. of 40693 1918 3298 8113 15118 9519 3653 2175 84487
villages
No. of
beneficiaries 4757028 2786748 3626937 4764216 6390148 7208455 7527700 7904797 7904797
(cum.)
Female
(cum.) 4517791 2657105 3468147 4573681 6161452 6972351 7290604 7659739 7659739
Male (cum.)
239237 129643 158790 190535 228696 236104 237096 245058 245058

Source: Grameen Bank

Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)

PKSF with its partner organisations play a remarkable role in alleviating poverty through its
micro- credit activities since its inception. As of June 2009, PKSF disbursed a cumulative
amount of loan amounting Tk. 7,484.44 crore to its 257 partner organisations (POs). By revolving

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this amount, the POs have distributed Tk. 4,54,183.24 crore. During this period, the number of
borrowers at the field level was 83.3 lakh, where the percentage of women was more than 91
percent and maintaining a recovery rate above 98 percent.

PKSF usually provides loan facility to POs only in rural micro-credit sector. At present, eight
categories of micro-credit programmes are being implemented under the mainstream micro-credit
activities such as- (a) rural micro-credit (b) urban micro-credit (c) micro-credit for the poorest of
the poor (d) micro-enterprise-credit and (e) seasonal credit (f) agriculture sector micro-finance
(g) programme initiatives for ‘Monga’ Eradication (PRIME) to manage micro-credit in greater
Rangpur district and (h) credit facilities for the poor- friendly programme, initiating ‘Learning
and Innovation Fund to Test New Ideas (LIFT)’ programme. Apart from mainstream micro-credit
programme, PKSF is implementing some other especial programmes. Status of PKSF’s micro-
credit programme is shown in the Table 13:10.
Table 13.10 Status of Micro-Credit Programmes of PKSF
(Tk in crore)
Cumulative *2008- *Cumulative
up to 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Up to June’09
2009

Disbursement 1202.86 304.10 340.56 366.00 692.62 1350.70 1408.90 1819.53 7484.46

Recovery 398.72 160.39 243.00 342.13 437.58 638.94 1009.88 1352.92 4583.56
Rate of 196.81 98.17 97.40 96.96 96.71 98.60 97.32 98.21 98.21
(%)
Partner
199 213 219 231 243 248 257 257 257
Organisations
Beneficiaries 2629174 4485832 5104940 5522406 6778262 7723451 8283814 8262465 8262465

Female 2398082 3999332 4621260 5033129 6207971 7067455 7160581 7597067 7597067

Male 231092 486500 483680 489277 570291 655574 673233 665398 665398

Source: PKSF.*Provisional figure

Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB)

Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), a designated and specialised government agency
operating in the field of rural development and poverty alleviation, is mandated for increasing
agricultural production and poverty alleviation. Through Two-Tier Cooperation model (TCCA-
KSS), BRDB is working for agricultural development by organizing and providing credit and
other agricultural appliances to the small and marginal farmers. On the other hand, under its
development projects and programmes, BRDB puts in persistent efforts in providing micro credit,
human resource development training and other services on diverse social issues such as- health,
sanitation, family planning, mass education, HIV/AIDS prevention, gender and environment. Up
to June 2009, BRDB distributed Tk. 7530.26 crore among 5,360408 members and recovered Tk.
6653.29 crore, showing the rate of recovery 94 percent. The ongoing poverty alleviation
programmes of BRDB are: 1) Rural Livelihood Project (RLP); 2) Poverty Reduction through

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 Minor Crop Production, Preservation, Processing & Marketing Programme; 3) Integrated Poverty
Alleviation Programme (IPAP); 5) Women Development (W/D) Programme and Revolving
Agricultural Credit Program; and 6) Employment Guarantee Scheme for the Hard Core poor of
the Northern Region.

13.11: Status of Micro-Credit Programmes of BRDB

(Tk In crore)
Cumulative Cumulative
up to 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 (Up to
June’02 June'09)
Disbursement 3067.47
354.74 419.44 654.86 683.77 862.73 796.06 691.19 7530.26
Recovery 2581.70 312.54 319.66 474.18 720.04 887.07 680.52 677.58 6653.29
Recovery rate
(%) 92 90 94 89 94 93 94 94 88.35

Source: BRDB

Micro-Credit Programmes of State-owned Commercial Banks (SCBs) and Public

Specialised Banks

The status of credit disbursement of 4 SCBs and 2 public specialised banks is shown in Table
13.12. Up to June 2009, the cumulative credit disbursement and recovery stood at Tk. 19,761.51
crore and Tk. 20,539.22 crore respectively. The recovery rate was 100.69 percent.

Table 13.12: Status of Micro-Credit Disbursement of Nationalised Scheduled Banks

(Tk in Crore)
Cumulative
2008-09 up to
Banks Cumulative 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 June, 2009
up to
June 02
Sonali Bank

Disbursement 4169.78 361.57 460.18 485.90 456.62 410.02 557.08 617.44 7518.59

Recovery 7021.77 434.7 547.79 425.06 486.37 677.00 921.23 743.66 11257.58

Rate of recovery 141.22 120.23 119.04 87.48 106.52 165.11 34.30 30.46 149.73

No. of - - 189560 201841 199190 179188 208478 208478

beneficiaries
Agrani Bank

Disbursement 1255.39 45.89 44.08 100.34 182.07 210.60 290.40 339.66 2468.43

Recovery 1225.71 43.72 51.65 97.47 212.09 268.39 288.73 336.82 2524.58

Rate of recovery 110.14 95.27 117.17 97.14 116.49 127.44 99.43 99.16% 102.27

No. of 2939525 22160 23099 42435 104387 115383 139903 139903

beneficiaries
Janata Bank

Disbursement 1515.451 126.1 227.47 193.75 193.75 290.16 497.93 560.94 3605.551

Recovery 1441.64 120.9 163.52 106.54 106.54 249.81 355.90 412.83 2957.68

Rate of recovery 105.51 95.88 71.89 54.99 54.99 86.09 71 74% 82.03

210
 Cumulative Cumulative
Banks up to 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 up to
June 02 June, 2009

No. of 608491 97000 129908 101220 100073 145080 124483 124653 124653
beneficiaries
Bangladesh
Krishi Bank
Disbursement 820.64 93.58 68.16 58.86 57.02 54.51 53.43 47.82 1254.02
Recovery 683.62 98 46.6 37.27 43.24 51.84 51.46 45.56 1057.59
Rate of recovery 83.30 104.72 68.37 63.32 75.83 95.10 96.31 95.27 84.34

No. of 1394629 80289 60987 59117 50083 52028 47761 49356 49356
beneficiaries
Rajshahi Krishi
Unnayan Bank
Disbursement 2199 13.64 17.97 30.73 29.23 14.99 17.71 18.03 289.08

Recovery 34.9 13.47 12.47 14.53 21.25 13.22 14.22 15.79 214.27

Rate of recovery 99.11 98.75 69.39 47.28 72.70 88.19 80.29 88 74.12
No. of 164844 11234 18597 47834 30033 16634 15818 16239 16239
beneficiaries
Rupali Bank
Ltd.
Disbursement 21.54 2.24 5.17 15.28 16.09 11.02 16.97 16.88 105.19

Recovery 20.17 0.82 2.05 5.27 10.15 11.95 12.16 14.79 77.36
Rate of recovery 102.83 36.61 39.65 34.49 63.08 108.44 71.65 87.62 87.62

No. of 29362 2188 2427 5402 5431 2804 4242 3458

beneficiaries 3458
Total
disbursement 11237.19 688.91 867.11 985.2 1116.85 1201.9 1723.92 1940.43 19761.51

Recovery 11653.52 755.33 875.73 783.61 1091.73 1540.6 1932.43 1906.27 20539.22

Rate of recovery 103.70 109.64 100.99 79.54 97.75 128.18 112.10 98.24 103.90
Source: Related Banks
*
Rate of recovery has been calculated in Tables 13.10, 13.11, 13.12 and 13.13 as follows: Rate of recovery =
(Recovery/Disbursement) x100.

Micro-Credit Programmes of Other Commercial and Specialised Banks

Other commercial and specialised banks are also conducting micro-credit programmes to
alleviate poverty and create self-employment alongside the state-owned commercial banks. As of
June 2009, the total number of beneficiaries was 1756921 and the cumulative disbursement of
credit was Tk. 4,520.1 crore. The status of micro-credit disbursement programme of other
commercial and specialised banks is shown in Table 13.13:

211
 Table 13.13: Micro-Credit Programmes of other Commercial and Specialised Banks
(Tk. in Crore)
Number of Beneficiaries Disbursement up to June' Rate of
Commercial and 09 Recovery (%)
Specialised Banks Female Male Total

Ansar-VDP 495015 181386 676401 852.04 99.39%

Development Bank
Social Investment 16097 24145 40242 92.58 98%
Bank Limited
National Bank 1675 59727 61402 145.28 95.77%
Limited
Islami Bank Limited 524319 78346 602665 *2118.90 99%
52.29
The Trust Bank Limited - 1010 1010 85.40%

BASIC Bank Limited 257528 53015 310546 193.10 97.50%

(up to Mrch’09)
Pubali Bank Ltd. 14033 23 14056 20.60 100%
Uttara Bank Ltd. 5268 45331 50599 1045.31 69.00%
Total 1313935 442983 1756918 4,520.10
Source: Related Banks. *Disbursement figure of Islami Bank Ltd is cumulative

Micro Credit Programmes of Administrative Ministries/Divisions

The Government has been allocating funds from non-development budget to implement micro-
credit programmes for poverty alleviation by different administrative Ministries/ Divisions/
Departments. The cumulative credit disbursement till June 2009 stood at Tk. 61,139.92 crore and
recovery was Tk. 51,959.94 crore. In order to sustain the micro-credit programme for poverty
reduction, the Government emphasises on developing small entrepreneurs. The Finance Division
in cooperation with the other ministries is working together in this direction.

212
 Table 13.14: Status of Micro-Credit of Administrative Ministries/Divisions
(Tk.in Crore)
Cumulative 2003-04 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Cumulative
2004-05
Ministry/Division Agency/Division up to June’ up to June’09
03

Ministry of Banking division

Finance *(RAKUB)
Disbursement 74.88 17.97 30.73 29.23 14.99 17.71 18.03 203.54
Recovery 96.13 12.47 14.53 21.25 13.22 14.22 15.79 187.61
Rate (%) 77.29 69.39 47.28 72.69 88.192 80.29 87.59 92.17
Rural BRDB 0
Development & Disbursement 3372.21 419.44 654.86 683.77 862.73 796.06 691.19 7480.26
Cooperative Recovery 2895.24 380.35 474.18 720.04 887.07 680.52 677.58 6714.98
Division Rate (%) - 91 89 94 93 94 94 89.77
BARD 0
Disbursement 77.75 7.07 3.11 1.45 0.15 0.23 2.57 92.33
Recovery 73.36 9.00 5.25 1.77 0.14 0.22 2.52 92.26
Rate (%) 127.3 168.01 122.3 96.1 99.99 98 99.92
RDA 0
Disbursement 8.26 1.43 1.94 1.99 2.26 3.57 6.19 25.64
Recovery 7.86 1.22 1.39 1.98 2.16 2.69 4.38 21.68
Rate (%) 85.31 71.62 99.58 74.46 81 83 84.56
*Dept. of Women 0
Ministry of Disbursement 2.08 0.1113 0.2399 0.2765 0.1418 0.33 20.45 23.6295
Women and Recovery 1.3235 0.1034 0.1330 0.2508 0.3025 0.0885 4..2275 6.4292
Children Affairs Rate (%) 92.92 55.43 90.71 9.8.00 67 27.21
Jatiyo Mohila
Sangstha 0
Disbursement 20.47 0.66 5.26 3.58 2.95 1.99 - 34.91
Recovery 20.23 1.04 4.22 3.33 1.73 1.25 3.64 35.44
Rate (%) 157.58 80.26 93 58.64 57.97 - 101.52
Ministry of Social Dept. of Social 0
Welfare Disbursement 517.56 54.88 44.59 71.86 41.02 64.90 30.32 825.13
Recovery 472.56 49.60 40.30 53.54 32.33 52.41 28.79 729.53
Rate (%) 73 90 75 79 81 95 88.41
Ministry of Dept of Fisheries 0
Fisheries and Disbursement - - 2.50 2.00 - 0.0 487.10 491.6
Livestock Recovery - - - 1.02 2.08 181.28 184.38
Rate (%) 68.97 71.50 68.68 37.51
Dept of Livestock 0
Li k
Disbursement 18.44 23.93 18.81 5 .49 - 0 32.97 99.64
Recovery 12.68 2.30 4.66 5.61 10.74 16.71 13.94 66.64
Rate (%) 68.76 9.61 24.80 12.60 25.40 41.50 42.28 66.88
Ministry of BSCIC 0
Industries Disbursement 157.67 29.22 25.94 22.07 13.71 4.32 4.32 257.25
Recovery 126.75 27.46 23.26 22.71 19.67 10.57 6.80 237.22
Rate (%) 93.98 89.67 102.89 143.47 243.54 163.27 92.21
SERWTCI 0
Disbursement 14 7.64 9.75 9.41 9.26 3.6396 7.3295 61.0291
Recovery 12.09 4.11 6.36 8.33 8.31 3.5287 7.256 49.9847
Rate (%) 53.80 64.96 89 90 96.95 98.997 81.90
Disbursement 12104.24 4048.37 4956.78 5496.21 5292.51 8580.66 9284.46 49763.23
Recovery 12650.13 3135.32 3171.15 4164.35 4676.00 6003.7 8377.62 42178.27
Ministry of Rate (%) 104.51 77.446 63.98 75.76 88.35 69.97 90.23 84.76
Agriculture
Cotton
Development
Board 0
Disbursement 3.3 0.263 0.264 0.213 0.2942 0.3382 0.341 5.0134
Recovery 3.48 0.28 0.25 0.22 0.31 0.3512 0.2594 5.1506
Rate (%) 105.70 101.6 101.6 104 104 76.07 102.74
Dept ofAgr Ex) 0
Disbursement 159.07 147.46 69.77 27.82 35.38 31.15 18.43 489.08
Recovery 116.46 99.53 52.25 20.38 34.00 48.16 37.17 407.95
Rate (%) 67.53 75 73 96 154.61 201.68 83.41
0
Disbursement 68.43 0.00 8.70 10.14 5.50 8.76 4.33 105.86
Ministry of Land Recovery 55.43 0.00 7.22 6.37 3.82 5.60 3.11 81.55
Rate (%) 81.00 0.00 82.99 62.82 69.45 63.93 71.67 77.04
Local Govt. 0
Local Govt. Disbursement 54.85
Division 1.33 3.37 6.00 16.32 31.95 93.13 206.95
Recovery 22.72 1.03 2.66 3.31 9.28 21.8 85.09 145.89
Rate (%) 47.26 77.44 96.00 88.89 98 84 94.63 70.50

213
 Cumulative 2003-04 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Cumulative
2004-05
Ministry/Division Agency/Division up to June’ up to June’09
03

Dept. of Youth 0
Ministry of Youth Disbursement 511.63 34.65 62.87 77.77 60.02 61.75 44.72 853.41
and Sports Recovery 427.97 33.27 44.98 57.37 74.46 61.16 56.37 755.58
Rate (%) 83.65 96.01 71.54 73.76 124.06 100.67 126.05 88.54
Bangladesh
Handloom
Board(BHB) 0

Ministry of Textile
and Jute
21.58 8.07 9.16 4.68 3.31 0.60 47.698 95.098
Disbursement
7.01 3.62 3.12 3.60 4.08 2.34 24.893 48.663
Recovery
- 44.86 34.06 55.11 57.95 43.41 333 51.17
Rate (%)
0
Ministry of Disbursement -
Liberation war - 10.16 3.86 8.60 2.08 1.58 26.28
Affairs Recovery - - 0.41 1.97 2.82 2.82 2.71 10.73
27 38 42 42 32 40.83
Total Disbursement 17186.42 4802.49 5918.80 6457.82 6369.15 9610.04 10795.16 61139.92
Recovery 17001.42 3760.70 3856.32 5096.38 5781.46 6930.22 9533.43 51959.94
Source: Concerned Ministries and Bangladesh Bank.* Revised data of RAKUB & Dept. of Women Affairs has been shown.

214