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The Bangladesh Bank on Sunday extended the deadline for disbursement of Tk 5,000 crore in refinance loans meant for the agriculture sector by three months amid slow progress in disbursement.
The central bank has extended the deadline for smooth implementation of the stimulus fund to the agriculture sector, said a BB circular issued on the day.
As per the circular, the deadline for disbursement of loans from the stimulus package was extended till December 31 from September 30.
‘We extended the deadline because banks have not made much progress in disbursing the stimulus funds to the sector due to various reasons,’ said BB executive director Ashok Kumur Dey.
Six banks are yet to disburse any fund from the Tk 5,000crorestimulus package to the agriculture sector, although the sector continues to be badly hit by prolonged flooding and the coronavirus outbreak.
Other scheduled banks have disbursed only Tk 1,114.16 crore in farm credit from the stimulus package among 46,815 farmers till August, according to the latest BB data.
Till August this year, Janata Bank, One Bank, Union Bank, the Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Modhumoti Bank and Shimanto Bank have not disbursed any funds to farmers from the package.
As many as 43 banks signed participation agreements with the BB on disbursement of farm credit from the low-cost stimulus fund.
The BB also set separate targets for these banks to disburse the lowcost loans.
High officials of the central bank expressed their dissatisfaction over slow disbursement of the loans to the agriculture and the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprise sectors from the stimulus funds at a virtual meeting with the banks on September 02.
To tackle the economic losses incurred due the outbreak of the deadly virus, the BB launched a Tk 5,000-crore stimulus fund for the agriculture sector on April 14.
The tenure for the loans was set at 18 months, including a grace period of six months.
The banks will borrow the funds at 1 per cent interest rate and will lend at 4 per cent interest to farmers in line with the BB guidelines.
The stimulus fund has not reached marginal farmers due to collateral issues and bureaucratic complexities within the banks, according to experts.
(NA)
