Education sector gets highest CSR fund from banks in H1

Education sector received 38 per cent of the fund disbursed by the banks under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the first half of the current calendar year.

Latest statistics of the central bank also showed that disaster management sector received some 28.81 per cent during the period under review and became the second highest recipient of CSR fund.

As per Bangladesh Bank half-yearly review of CSR activities of the banks released this week, 57 banks in the country disbursed some Tk 3.26 billion under their CSR scheme.

The banks disbursed some 11 per cent of their total CSR fund on health sector, the review report also showed.

According to a central bank official instruction, issued through a circular in 2014, at least 30 per cent of the CSR fund has to go to education sector while it has to be 20 per cent for heath sector.

In another circular in 2015, Bangladesh Bank also asked the banks to give at least 10 per cent of the total CSR money for the mitigation of climate change effects.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd disbursed the largest amount of CSR fund worth Tk 590 million during the January-June period of the current year.

In the half-year period, Dutch Bangla Bank disbursed Tk 437 million and Exim Bank Tk 312.3 million, emerging as the second and the third largest CSR fund distributing bank respectively in the country.