The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has granted export-oriented industries an additional six months time to repay loans taken from the government's stimulus package to address the Covid-19 fallout.
The central bank in a circular on Wednesday has announced the time extension softening its stance on repayment of the installments of loans under the stimulus package.
The decision came a day after the finance ministry asked the central bank to extend the grace period in a bid to ease the pressure on entrepreneurs amid falling exports in a number of major sectors, including garments, leather and footwear.
In March last year, the government announced a Tk 5,000 crore stimulus fund to help industry owners, particularly those in the garment sector, pay workers' wages and meet other costs for four months between April and June, when the pandemic-induced economic slump was at its peak in Bangladesh.
The central bank had initially fixed a six-month grace period for the loan, which bears no interest other than a 2 per cent service charge.
As per the rules, the repayment period was scheduled to begin from January this year.
Now, the central bank says that borrowers will have to pay the first instalment in September. The loans will be repaid in 18 instalments after the grace period expires.
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