BB to disburse 25% of pre-finance loans this month
We will disburse 25% of the funds under the schemes this month and complete the disbursement by December. Its impact on the economy will be visible next year, BB governor says.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman has said 25% of loans under its low-cost, easy-term pre-finance schemes would be disbursed this month, with full disbursement completed by December.
The impact of the low-cost financing on the economy would become visible next year, he said at a programme titled "A Cashless Ecosystem for Financial Inclusion" organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) in Dhaka today (3 September).
Mostaqur said agriculture and small and medium enterprises had been given priority under the pre-finance schemes, with a particular focus on reaching borrowers in rural areas.
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"We will disburse 25% of the funds under the schemes this month and complete the disbursement by December. Its impact on the economy will be visible next year," he said.
The Bangladesh Bank earlier announced a Tk60,000 crore "Stimulus Package-2026" to facilitate credit flow to the private sector and support economic expansion.
Speaking about the Bangla QR payment system, the governor at the event said several large companies had sought an extension before its implementation deadline, but the central bank had refused to grant additional time.
"I had made it clear that not a single extra day would be given. Had they failed to comply, the regulator would have shut them down," he said. The government will make Bangla QR codes mandatory for obtaining trade licences in the future, he added.
According to the governor, the number of Bangla QR merchants has increased from around 8 lakh when the system was launched to 32 lakh currently.
He said wider adoption of Bangla QR could help curb extortion and increase government revenue by bringing more transactions into the formal financial system.
On inflation, Mostaqur said persistent high inflation had previously limited the scope for cutting the policy interest rate. He said he had examined inflation data and found scope for improvement in the way the data were generated.
"There was pressure because inflation was so high that the policy rate could not be reduced," he said, adding that inflation had not fallen as expected partly because of price pressures in two major products, without specifying them. He expressed optimism that inflation could eventually be brought down to around 7%.
