Bb’s Tk 200cr Refinance Scheme
27 banks yet to disburse any green loan despite ceiling imposition
Twenty-seven scheduled banks are yet to disburse any loan under a Tk 200-crore refinance scheme for green products although Bangladesh Bank set a loan disbursement target of at least Tk 5 crore in a fiscal year under the scheme. The BB also set a credit disbursement target of at least Tk 3 crore a year under the refinance scheme for non-bank financial institutions but they are yet to disburse any loan under the scheme, according to the latest central bank data.
Against the backdrop, the BB issued a letter in the third week of January to all banks and the NBFIs to take necessary measures in this regard.
The BB organised two separate meetings with senior officials of the banks and the NBFIs in July 28 and 29 last year in which the central bank set the credit disbursement target under the refinance scheme, a BB official told New Age on Sunday.
In the meetings, the central bank also asked the banks and the NBFIs to sign participant agreement on mandatory basis in a bid to use the refinance fund.
The BB data showed that 31 banks and 10 NBFIs had so far signed participant agreements with the central bank as of February 2.
There are 56 scheduled banks and 31 NBFIs in the country. Of the scheduled banks, nine Islamic banks are not able to take fund from the refinance scheme as they cannot operate interest-oriented business due to their Shariah-based banking.
The recent central bank letter asked the banks and the NBFIs to sign participant agreements with the BB in the quickest possible time.
The BB launched the scheme in August 2009 in a bid to attract green and environment-friendly projects like solar home systems, bio-gas plants and industrial effluent treatment plants.
The BB official said that 20 banks borrowed only Tk 139.25 crore from the central bank’s revolving fund in the last four years and five months as the banks and the NBFIs considered the interest rate set by the BB ‘not lucrative enough’.
Under the scheme, banks and NBFIs can get loans at five per cent interest from the central bank and can charge a maximum 10 per cent interest on the loans given directly to their customers for the green projects.
But, if a bank or an NBFI gives the loans to the non-government organisations for the green products, clients will get the loans from the NGOs at up to 11 to 12 per cent interest.
According to the BB report, the 20 banks which disbursed loans under the refinance scheme are Trust Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Prime Bank, Mercantile Bank, National Bank,
Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Eastern Bank, Standard Bank, Sonali Bank, AB Bank, Uttara Bank, ONE Bank, Southeast Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, IFIC Bank, BASIC Bank, Dhaka Bank, The City Bank, Rupali Bank and NCC Bank.
The official said that the central bank would arrange meeting with the banks which failed to disburse green fund in the shortest possible time so that they take measures in this connection.
The BB earlier said that it would show special consideration for the banks which would ensure disbursement of the loans under the scheme in giving permission for opening new branch, authorised dealer branch and foreign exchange house, the BB official said.
The BB will consider the rate of success of the banks in disbursing green fund when it will make CAMELS rating, he said.
He also said that successful banks would get priority in getting special liquidity support from the central bank.
-With New Age input
