The Bangladesh Bank has relaxed loan rescheduling facility for the country’s shipbuilding industry in a bid to ease the repayment process, hoping that the move will help recover bad debts and reduce the volume of classified loans.
In this regard, the central bank’s Department of Financial Institutions and Markets (DFIM) issued a circular for non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) on Sunday.
Under the relaxed policy, the NBFIs will be able to reschedule defaulted loans of borrowers from the sector for 10 years, including two years of grace period. The financial institutions will have to collect 2.50 per cent of the defaulted loan as a down payment to offer this facility.
The loans which were approved through scams and irregularities would not get the rescheduling facility, the regulator said, adding that the NBFIs will take legal action if borrowers do not repay the loans during the period.
On June 20, the Banking Regulation and Policy Department (BRPD) of the central bank asked all the scheduled banks to offer a relaxed loan rescheduling facility for the shipbuilding industry.
Bangladesh has now over 200 shipbuilding companies, mostly concentrated in Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayanganj, Barishal and Khulna.
According to a recent study by the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), currently Bangladesh earns about Tk 15,000 crore annually from the shipbuilding industry.
