FBCCI welcomes lending rate cut
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) today (February 25) welcomed central bank’s cap on lending rate for all loan except credit cards at 9 percent which is scheduled to come into effect on April 1.
FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim in a statement termed this move of Bangladesh Bank (BB) as “a relief” for entrepreneurs, saying that “We have long been advocating to lessen cost of doing businesses in our country.”
“We are encouraged that it is one element of ease of doing business in our country which will help the economy to grow through new investment and expansion,” he said expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
BB on Monday issued a circular which suggested the much-expected single-digit lending rate would actually be materialized after a protracted bargaining between the banking sector and the government.
“We hope finance ministry with stakeholders will re-examine overall banking operational models to minimize unproductive expenditures that will lower overhead and diversify access to capital for private sector investors,” said Fahim, adding, “To encourage consumer spending, b2b and widen formal economy, credit card usage should be encouraged with ease and lower cost.”
According to BB circular, the borrowers, however, will have to bear an additional two percent in penal interest along with the new rates if they default on their installment payments.
On December 30, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that banks would have to fix the interest rate on lending at 9 percent from the first day of April as per Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction. (Source: BSS)
