The Bangladesh Bank has extended the tenure for foreign exchange loans under buyers and suppliers credit for importing capital machinery, allowing industrial entrepreneurs to secure loans for three years instead of one.
The central bank has also ordered an extension of loan tenures for institutions with existing medium- and short-term agreements to import capital machinery, while prohibiting any increase in interest rates.
The Foreign Exchange and Policy Department of the BB issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
It said that this directive, issued to provide additional incentive for the import of capital machinery, would be applicable only to factories within export processing zones, private export processing zones, economy zones, hi-tech parks and government-declared specialised zones.
To get the benefits, registration with the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority and the Textile Department has been made mandatory.
The Bangladesh Bank directive further states that the 182nd meeting of the Scrutiny Committee on Bidder Foreign Loans or Suppliers Credit chaired by the governor decided to issue a three-year loan. All the authorised dealer banks in the country have been instructed to take initiatives in this regard to provide additional incentives for the import of capital equipment.
In a circular earlier on November 27, the central bank said that the import-dependent industrial sector, which has suffered losses due to the appreciation of the dollar, had been given up to eight years to repay the loan.
These loans can be calculated separately and repaid on a monthly or quarterly basis with a one-year break.