Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The central bank of Bangladesh has withdrawn the interest rate cap on lending in all sectors barring two – agriculture and industrial term loan – after nearly two years, officials said.
“We’ve withdrawn the interest rate cap on lending in some sectors aiming to facilitate the country’s overall economic growth,” General Manager Banking Regulation and Policy Department (BRPD) KM Abdul Wadood told BBN in Dhaka on Wednesday.
He also said the banks will feel pleasure to divert their funds into real sectors including industries and service generations.
The central bank issued a circular in this connection Wednesday and asked the chief executives of all commercial banks to maintain the latest instructions on interest ceiling on lending in the specific areas properly.
On April 19, 2009 the central bank asked the commercial banks to fix the ceiling on lending rate in five specific areas at 13 per cent to help mitigate the impact of the on-going global economic meltdown.
The five areas for which a ceiling on lending rate has been fixed are: agriculture, term loan to large and medium-scale industries, working capital to large and medium-scale industries, housing, and trade financing.
BBN/SI/AD-09Mar11-7:31 pm (BST)
