Stimulus for large industries – Give priority to new clients: BB

Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked banks to prioritise new clients while giving out loans from the stimulus package dedicated to the large service and industrial units.

As of June, 3,275 units in the service and industrial sectors received loans from the economic support package, which has tenure for three years.

The BB introduced the Tk 40,000 crore package in April last year to protect the industrial and service sectors from the business slowdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The clients, who could not to secure any fund from the stimulus fund last year, will have to be given priority from this year, according to a central bank notice.

Customers can take a maximum of 30 per cent of their working capital from the fund.

The clients, who are yet to get the full amount entitled under the package, will also get the priority.

The central bank had initially allocated Tk 30,000 crore for the package. It later expanded the size of the fund to Tk 40,000 crore.

Of the fund, Tk 7,000 crore has been allocated for the firms operating in the zones run by the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, and the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority.

As much as 98 per cent of the fund allocated to the service and industrial firms located outside of the zones has been disbursed by June 20 this year.