Bangladesh Bank yesterday signed Tk 100 crore re-financing deals with 32 banks and financial institutions to provide soft interest loans to small entrepreneurs, reports UNB.
Under the deals, 23 banks and nine financial institutions will get funds from the central bank at five percent interest for disbursement among the categorised entrepreneurs at 10 per cent interest. Each entrepreneur can take a loan up to Tk 10 lakh without collateral and up to Tk 25 lakh with collateral as running capital and term loan.
Speaking at the signing ceremony Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said the deals aimed at job creation through new entrepreneurs who are entering the job market.
“Our main target is to create a new group of entrepreneurs with new dimension,” he said referring to Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s initiative under which about 1000 new entrepreneurs were training to start businesses.
“I think the new entrepreneurs would run business mostly based on new technology,” said Rahman. He urged banks and financial institutions to provide soft term loans to them. He said Bangladesh is the third largest country in software export. He also urged the bankers to focus on agricultural sector’s entrepreneurs.
Atiur mentioned that Bangladesh Bank has launched a Tk 600-crore re-financing scheme for small entrepreneurs from which a women entrepreneur can take loan upto Tk 25 lakh on easy terms.