The government has announced a Tk 30.000 crore incentive package for banks to lend to companies in the manufacturing and service sectors impacted by COVID-19. Bangladesh Bank has formed a revolving refinancing fund to provide half of the Tk 15,000 crore loan. All the banks will offer a total of Tk 28,865 crore, and Tk 1,135 crore will be distributed by the non-bank financial institutions.
According to the central bank’s policy, the term of this loan will be three years. Industries that have already availed capital from the bank will be able to borrow up to a maximum of 30 percent from this fund. However, only the victims will get this loan. Debtors will not get any loan from this fund. Not only defaulters but also traders who have rescheduled loans more than three times won’t be able to get the loans.
The loans that have been given to be recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, for such critical preconditions it is not working accordingly. Also, the ability of customers to repay the loan is much less than before. So, the bankers are being very careful in giving loans for this.
Several banks, such as state-owned Agrani Bank, will distribute the loans which will be able to lend Tk 914 crore from this fund. On behalf of Wata Chemical, which is listed on the stock exchange, the bank has already approved a loan of Tk 19 Crore. Hundreds of companies have applied for bank loans, including the Jamuna Group, Thermax, Acme, Diamond Cement, PHP Group, Apex Footwear, Region, Nital Niloy Group.
