Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh on Monday demanded the Bangladesh Bank should revive a refinance scheme of Tk 700 crore for
real estate sector in a bid to save the housing market.
A six-member team of the REHAB led by its general secretary Anisuzzaman Bhuiyan Rana also pressed the BB to extend the refinance scheme amount to Tk 1,500 crore.
The REHAB made the demand at a meeting with the central bank presided over by the BB governor Atiur Rahman. The meeting was held at the central bank headquarters in the capital.
REHAB general secretary Anisuzzaman told reporters after the meeting that they had urged the central bank to revive the refinance scheme and increase its fund to Tk 1,500 crore from Tk 700 crore.
The BB stopped the refinance scheme for housing sector in 2011.
Anisuzzaman said that the clients would get bank loans to purchase or build a home with a lower interest rate between eight per cent and nine per cent if the BB revives the refinance scheme.
The central bank should revive the refinance scheme in the interest of the clients, he said.
Besides, such type of the BB initiative will also save the real estate sector from the ongoing crisis, he said.
BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury told reporters that it was not possible to implement their demand at the moment.
The inflation may go up if the refinance scheme is revived as money circulation will increase due to the scheme, he said.
He, however, said that the central bank would consider the demand when it will prepare the next monetary policy programme for July-December 2013.
-With New Age input
