Bangladesh hijras, ethnic minorities, disabled people to enjoy SME loan
Xinhua, June 11, 2015 Adjust font size:
The central bank of Bangladesh has instructed all financial institutions in the country to offer loans to members of transgender or hijra community, ethnic minorities and disabled people to start or expand their business.
In this connection, Bangladesh Bank (BB) Wednesday issued a notice to all state-owned and private commercial banks instructing them for measures to bring disadvantaged communities under SME or Small and Medium Enterprise credit facility.
The BB instruction came more than one and a half year after the government recognized the country's some half a million hijras.
The Bangladesh government on Nov.10, 2013 officially recognized hijras as a separate gender in Bangladesh.
The recognition aimed at helping them securing their rights and enabling them to identify their gender as hijra on all government papers including passports.
The central bank notice which was dispatched to the top officials of all financial institutions also instructed to ensure credit facility to the ethnic minorities which were estimated to be over 2 million in Bangladesh.
Apart from this, according to the notice, people with any type of disability and disadvantaged women will also come under the SME credit facility. Endi