33% of SME loans given to women
SME foundation distributed Tk116 crore in loans to SMEs in FY20
Women entrepreneurs got about one-third of Tk116 crore in loans disbursed by the SME Foundation to cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) under the government's incentive package to offset Covid-19 losses.
At a views-exchange meeting on Tuesday, SME Foundation Managing Director Dr Md Mafizur Rahman said that in the fiscal 2020-21, the foundation distributed the money to 1,069 entrepreneurs in 54 districts through 13 banks and non-bank financial institutions at a 4% interest rate.
The loans were disbursed in less than two months.
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Mafizur urged partner banks and non-bank financial institutions to prepare for the disbursement of another Tk200 crore for the SME Foundation by the end of this year.
The SME Foundation had been allotted Tk300 crore to be disbursed to CMSMEs, in the second phase of the government's incentive package to expedite Bangladesh's economic recovery amid the Covid pandemic.
Officers from 24 banks and non-bank financial institutions participated in the meeting conducted by Md Nazim Hasan Sattar, general manager of SME Foundation.
