Bangladesh Bank to probe into disbursement of stimulus fund

Bangladesh Bank has asked banks to send details of clients who got loans from the government’s stimulus package in order to ensure probe whether the low-cost funds went to productive sectors.

The central bank directed banks to provide detail of loan disbursement within five working days, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank said yesterday.

“We will take stern action against the concerned banks in case of misuse of incentive loans announced by the government,” he said.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) sent letters to all banks Sunday. In the letter, the BB also asked banks to provide information about the subsidy on the interest.

Earlier, while announcing the monetary policy on July 29, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said that a special inquiry would be conducted to look into whether there was any misuse of incentive loans.

The central bank sent the letters just two days after his remark.

Early last week, Bangladesh Bank said it found some cheap funds being channelled into unproductive sectors and directed banks to increase monitoring on how loans from the stimulus packages were being used.