The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has received the “AFI Global Youth Financial Inclusion Award-2024” for playing a significant role in accelerating the financial inclusion of youths.

The award was given to the central bank at a meeting of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) global policy forum held recently in the Central American country of El Salvador, said a BB press release issued Sunday.

The AFI, an international alliance of policymakers and regulators on financial inclusion, presents the prestigious “AFI Global Youth Financial Inclusion Award”.

Several activities of the Bangladesh central bank were considered before delivering the award.

The central bank has developed financial literacy guidelines for banks and financial institutions.

According to these guidelines, banks and financial institutions have to conduct various activities to ensure that certain categories of students and youths get lessons on financial issues.

The Bangladesh Bank has also formed a start-up fund to provide loans to entrepreneurs aged 21 to 45 years of the country.

A separate website (https://finlit.bb.org.bd) has been launched to provide financial literacy and ensure consumer interest. Apart from this, an initiative has been taken to add a chapter on financial literacy in the national curriculum.

On the other hand, 4.3 lakh school bank accounts have been opened in various banks across the country.

The central bank has taken initiatives to reduce gender inequality in the financial sector by ensuring the participation of female students in school banking. Currently, the share of female students with bank accounts is 48.9% among all school student accounts.

Apart from this, loans are being provided under a refinancing scheme to school banking account holders for providing training on skill-based occupations and business management.