Home ›› 26 Jul 2021 ›› Front
Mehedi Hasan
Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday asked the scheduled banks to keep their vigil so that stimulus fund meant to revive the moribund businesses caused by the Covid-19 is not diverted to unproductive sectors.
In a letter to banks, the BB said a portion of low-cost stimulus loans is being channeled to unproductive sectors.
Besides, many borrowers are readjusting their earlier loans from the stimulus fund, which is contrary to the very objectives of offering the stimulus, it added.
Unproductive sectors include investment in the stock market, purchasing land or apartments.
Senior officials at the BB said they have specific allegations against a number of companies who from their stimulus fund invested in the share market, prompting the central bank to issue the latest instruction to the commercial banks to ensure proper use of the fund.
Some large borrowers are diverting the loans to the unproductive sector from the stimulus fund of Tk 40,000 crore as working capital for Covid-19 affected industries to revive the country’s economic activities, said BB officials.
The banking regulation and policy department of the BB on yesterday sent the instruction letter to the managing directors and CEO of the all commercial banks.
The BB letter said that there are allegations that some lenders are delaying to disburse the sanctioned loans under the stimulus packages.
If the instructions to follow for the incentive package are not followed properly, the purpose of the incentive package will be thwarted, which is by no means desirable, BB warned.
The BB instructed banks to monitor regularly of the stimulus fund utilization as the fund announced by the government and the BB to address the negative impact of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Contacted, The Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) former president and the present managing director of Mutual Trust bank Syed Mahbubur Rahman said that we are trying to monitor the proper utilization of the stimulus fund but it is very difficult to monitor.
He said that we will try to find out the way to control the stimulus fund diverting to unproductive sector.
It will have to control that the low cost fund does not channeled to the stock market in any way, said Syed Mahbubur Rahman.
The government first announced stimulus packages at the end of March last year, to help the affected people stay afloat and boost economic activities.
A total of 23 incentive packages worth Tk 1,28,303 crore have been announced so far, as per the BB data.
Of the total 23 incentive packages, Tk 30,000 crore was stimulus package for large industries; Tk 20,000 crore for CMSMEs; Tk 5,000 crore as pre-shipment credit refinance scheme; Tk 5,000 crore for agriculture sector, and more.
The BB has so far provided Tk 6,082 crore in interest subsidy to banks against stimulus loans of around Tk 83,000 crore.
The central bank said that about 83% of the packages have already been disbursed.