Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh introduced a revolving re-financing fund of BDT 2.0 billion for strengthening financial inclusion programmes through providing loans to BDT 10 account holders, officials said.
“The central bank has formed the fund aiming to bring un-banked people in the banking network for facilitating their business activities,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also expected that marginal traders are benefited from the re-financing scheme.
Under the scheme, the banks are allowed to disburse the collateral-free loan to the BDT 10 account holders at maximum 12 percent interest while the non-government organisations (NGOs) will charge up to 19 percent interest.
The central bank will provide the fund to the commercial banks at the rate of 5.0 per cent interest. A borrower can borrow maximum BDT 50,000 under the scheme.
The central bank issued a circular in this connection on Wednesday and asked the chief executive officers and managing directors of all scheduled banks for taking necessary measures to provide such loan.
As of March 2014, the number of BDT 10 account holders – who are mostly farmers, city corporation cleaning workers and social safety net beneficiaries – stood at nearly 13.90 million.
Earlier on January 17, 2010, the central bank asked the state-owned banks to open bank accounts for the farmers with a nominal deposit of BDT 10. Later, different categories of people were included in the programme.
BBN/SSR/AD-14May14-11:55 pm (BST)
