Banks to Discriminate Against Tobacco Growers

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 03/09/2010

Tobacco growers in Bangladesh, especially those who smoke, are apparently going to be the subject of officially-sanctioned discrimination in respect of bank loans, according to a story in The New Nation. The story described how the Bangladesh Bank had been told by a number of organizations, including the Tamak Birodhi Jote (Anti-Tobacco Alliance), that banks should not finance any organization for producing leaf tobacco. And the story went on to say that the bank would tell the country's public and private banks "to control tobacco use according to the provision of Tobacco Control Act". The anti-tobacco organizations said that growers who wanted to leave tobacco farming should be given loans "easily", while those who did not smoke should be given priority in the case of granting loans to tobacco growers. The Bangladesh Bank was said to have agreed to help provide alternative jobs for the financially impoverished laborers thrown out of work by these initiatives. Enditem