In 1998, Grameen Bank has completed its 15th year of operations as an independent Bank. Grameen Bank is now operating through 1137 Branches, 121 Areas and 15 Zones. The Bank currently has 23,68,347 Members. The volume of General Loans disbursed since inception amounted to Tk. 100,900 million. During the year Tk. 19,119.6 million was disbursed. Since 1984 Tk 7,215 million was disbursed to about half a million members as housing loan of which Tk 974 million was disbursed during 1998. Grameen Bank's housing loan programme continues to remain a great source of hope for a new and better life for the Grameen Bank members and their families.

The Bank is now operating in 39,045 villages. The total cumulative savings of the members have risen to Tk. 18,213 million (this figure does not include current savings deposit).

Grameen Bank's recovery position was adversely affected by the devastating flood of 1998. Both our members and staff at atll levels worked very hard to cope with the disaster in a creative way. As a result, the Bank emerged with a reinforced confidence in the ability of the poor people and the staff to face any disaster and shoulder any responsibility that is most likely to benefit the poor.

We resolve to make ourselves even more useful to our members in their efforts to build better lives for themselves in the coming years. In the meantime, we present some statistical information on the activities of the Bank during 1998.

Professor Muhammad Yunus
Managing Director
Grameen Bank
Mirpur 2, Dhaka 1216
March 1999