BB extends NBFIs loan repayment moratorium

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday instructed non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) not to default customers if they repay 50 per cent loan instalments for the January-December period of this year.

In a notification, BB said if the customers pay 50 per cent instalments of the total loan for this year by December 31, their loans could not be classified. In this case, they can pay the rest of the instalments within the next year.

During the period, interest or profit of the loan accounts can be transferred as income if clients pay interest against the loans. This is the fourth extension of the loan moratorium facility for borrowers, first announced on March 24 last year.

“Businesses have not yet recovered the losses inflicted by the pandemic and there is the risk of another wave,” a central bank official said. “The central bank extended the deadline considering this issue.”

Non-performing loans in 34 NBFIs stood at Tk 10,353 crore at the end of March this year, which is 15.46 per cent of the total outstanding loans till then.

The total outstanding loans in the sector stood at Tk 66,962 crore, the latest BB data show.

On March 24 last year, BB asked NBFIs to keep classification unchanged until December of that year to help borrowers tide over the economic shock. It extended the loan moratorium facility to the end of August this year.