Bangladesh Bank (BB) has revised the policy guidelines of its Tk20,000 crore ‘Closed Industry and Service Sector Facilitation Pre-finance Scheme’ to facilitate financing for closed industries and service-sector enterprises.
The central bank issued the revised guidelines through a circular today, replacing the term “large industry” with “industry” at different places in the relevant circulars, thereby broadening the scope of the scheme.
Under the revised provisions, participating banks will pay 4 percent interest to Bangladesh Bank against pre-financing received under the scheme.
Interest payment to Bangladesh Bank will begin six months after receiving the pre-financing, including the outstanding interest for the first two quarters.
At the customer level, the interest rate under the scheme will be a maximum of 7 percent. To provide a six-month grace period, recovery of interest from customers will also begin after six months of loan disbursement, including the outstanding interest for the first two quarters.
The revised guidelines also stipulate that banks will repay the pre-financing received from Bangladesh Bank on a quarterly basis upon completion of the grace period.
Besides, applications for pre-financing under the scheme can be submitted at any time within the three-year tenure of the scheme, subject to availability of funds.
The central bank said the revised instructions have been issued under the authority vested in it by Section 45 of the Bank Company Act, 1991, and will come into effect immediately.