Home ›› 20 Apr 2022 ›› Front
Short term agricultural loan borrowers can now reschedule their loan without any down payment or minimum payment based on bank customer relations.
Such types of credit can be rescheduled for a maximum period of three years with a grace period of 6 months from the date of rescheduling, Banking Regulation and Policy Department (BRPD) of Bangladesh Bank said in a circular issued on Tuesday. The facility will be effective immediately and will remain till December 31 this year.
At the same time, short-term agricultural loans which have already been rescheduled will also get the facility. Besides, banks will also be able to reschedule any loan by postponing any certificate case against the loan through negotiations.
The circular stated that, in the recent global economic context import prices have increased due to the rise in prices of various agricultural inputs and transportation costs.
In such a reality, it is necessary to accelerate the production activities of the entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. So the need to ease the loan payment of this sector and maintain normal debt flow, as it has been decided to allow the rescheduling facility, the circular added. According to the master circular of loan classification, Short-term Agricultural and Micro-Credit if not repaid within the fixed expiry date for repayment will be considered past due or overdue after six months of the expiry date.
The Short-term Agricultural and Micro-Credit will be considered irregular if not repaid within the due date as stipulated in the loan agreement. If the said irregular status continues, the credit will be classified as ‘Substandard ‘ after a period of 12 months, as ‘Doubtful’ after a period of 36 months and as ‘Bad/Loss’ after a period of 60 months from the stipulated due date as per the loan agreement.
The master circular also states that the provision for Short-term Agricultural and Micro-Credits are 5 per cent for sub-standard and 100 per cent for bad or loss loan.
