Transactions in a state-owned bank is going on at Motijheel, the commercial hub of Bangladesh. BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) has decided to bring down the interest rate on lending at 9.0 per cent and deposit rate at 6.0 per cent from the existing level.
The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting held at its office in Dhaka on Wednesday with its chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder in the chair.
The new interest rates on both lending and deposit will come into effect from July 01, the BAB chief told the BBN after the meeting.
Earlier on April 16, the central bank of Bangladesh asked the banks to take effective measures to bring down the interest rate on lending to single digit from the existing level as soon as possible.
The advice was made at two separate meetings of senior bankers held at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka on the day with Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Fazle Kabir in the chair.
The BB’s move came three days after the prime minister’s advice to the banks to bring down the lending rates to single digit to boost investments in the country.
“Interest rates have to be slashed and this should be in single digit. Or else, the investment will not accelerate along with the employment generation,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while receiving donations for her Relief and Welfare Fund from the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) at her official residence Ganobhaban in the capital on April 13.
BBN/SSR/AD