; Commerce and Education i Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur ' Rahman yesterday asked the ; commercial banks to bring the : poor people under the banking i services so that the country can ■ join the club of developing ; countries soon.

He was addressing the inau-: gural function of a 3-day Bank : and Non-Bank Financial ; Institutions Fair, organised by i Hotel Sheraton in Dhaka to--' ; bring products and services of : the banks and NBFIs under one : rooffor the first time.

Some 32 banks and financial i institutions are participating in : the fair, which will remain open i to clients from 10 am to 8 pm ; everyday.

Bangladesh Bank Governor ; Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, : Bangladesh Association of i Banks (BAB) Chairman Nazrul : Islam Mazumder, Association : of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) ; Chairman Mahmood Sattar ; and Bangladesh Leasing and ; Finance Companies' ^Association (BLFCA) i Chairman Anis A Khan also i spoke on the occasion.

; Hossain Zillur said ; Bangladesh has achieved the capacity to attain 5 percent economic growth at any cir-; cumstance, while it has the i potential for adding another 5 ; percent through a little extra ; effort, which would enable the ! country to join the club of ; developing countries.

"This could be achieved by ; focussing on the poor at the ; bottom of the pyramid,” he ; said.

He said Bangladesh is pass-i ing through a period of transi-i tion, including political and ; economic transitions, adding : that events such as the banks, i NBFIs Fair will contribute to the : economic development after i the transition period is over.

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said ; the commercial banks have ; done a good job despite global : turmoil, but more is required ; from them to make Bangladesh i a middle-income country by ; next decade.

Essentials prices to remain tolerable in Ramadan

Commit businesspeople

Star Business Report

Businesspeople and chamber leaders yesterday committed that they will keep the prices of essentials at tolerable level duringthe month of Ramadan.

The commitment came at a meeting of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) with its President Annisul Huq in the chair.

With this end in view the businessmen and chamber leaders will open some retail outlets in different districts and upazilas to sell the essential commodities at fair prices, they said.

Chamber leaders and their representatives from almost all the districts, and importers and wholesalers of essentials attended the meeting and vowed to keep the prices at tolerable level in Ramadan.

Annisul Huq said although FBCCI cannot directly control the prices of essential commodities, it can contribute indirectly to keeping the prices at tolerable level by selling those at retail outlets across the country in the time of need.

"We will try to open as many outlets of essential commodities across the country as we can during Ramadan," Huq said.

He said FBCCI will meet with the leaders of all retail markets of the city soon to advise them to minimise the price gap between wholesale and retail prices.

Meanwhile, the FBCCI has launched a website where data of almost all essential commodities will be available.

After launching the website Convener of the Price Monitoring Cell of FBCCI Kamaluddin Ahmed said the FBCCI will supply the compiled data to the media on every third day of a week to make those available for the consumers.

At the meeting President of Narsingdi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mosharraf Hossain committed that he will operate some retail outlets of essential commodities in his district during Ramadan giving Tk 2000 subsidy for per tonne of essentials.

Some other chamber leaders also made such commitment.