No new funds for exporters from reserves

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has said the central bank will not provide funds for exporters from foreign exchange reserves rather it will gradually reduce the size of existing Export Development Fund (EDF) through adjustment.

The central bank has already cut $1 billion from EDF.

The Governor of Bangladesh Bank made the comment at a signing ceremony of the Export Facilitation Pre-finance Fund (EFPF) with 49 scheduled banks on Monday at the central bank head office in the capital.

At the signing ceremony, he said, “Bangladesh Bank will not provide new funds for exporters from foreign exchange reserves. Besides, the EDF size will reduce gradually through adjustment.”

“Already $1 billion from EDF has been adjusted.”

On January 01 this year, the central bank announced Tk 10,000 crore EFPF for export-oriented industries to help them procure raw materials from local and foreign sources.

Borrowers can take loans from the fund for six months at the rate of up to 4 per cent interest. The interest rate of the fund to bank-end is 1.5 per cent.

However, the loan tenure can be extended for three more months on a case-to-case basis. But defaulters will not be able to take loans from EFPF.

If an exporter fails to repatriate export income after taking a loan from this fund, then they will not get any new benefits from EFPF.

Who can get loan?

The members of BGMEA, BKMEA, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association and Type-B and Type-C industries of Export Processing Zones will be able to get loans from EFPF, equal to the cost of raw materials for production or the highest of Tk200 crore.

The member companies of the Bangladesh Dyed Yarn Exporters Association (BDYEA) will not get loan facility of more than Tk150 crore for supplying yarn.

The members of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association will not get more than Tk20 crore in loans.

The members of Bangladesh Plastic Good Manufacturers and Exporters Association will not get loan of over Tk10 crore.

The members of Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association will not get loan of over Tk7 crore.

Except for the members of these organisations, the final exporters of any other sector will get pre-financing facility up to a maximum of Tk5 crore, according to the BB circular.