Rural SMEs to get Tk3,000 crore under stimulus package | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
June 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025
Rural SMEs to get Tk3,000 crore under stimulus package

Banking

TBS Report
13 April, 2020, 11:00 pm
Last modified: 13 April, 2020, 11:04 pm

Related News

  • SME production boost effort through common facility centres stalled for lack of funds
  • SMEs seek easier loan access for business expansion
  • Taskforce for setting up 'Dhaka Haat' for SMEs
  • Draft SME policy emphasises green financing for sustainable growth  
  • Make tax policy that helps SMEs, women: Experts

Rural SMEs to get Tk3,000 crore under stimulus package

Farmers will get loans at 4% interest rate under the Tk5,000 crore refinancing scheme announced for the agriculture sector

TBS Report
13 April, 2020, 11:00 pm
Last modified: 13 April, 2020, 11:04 pm
Rural SMEs to get Tk3,000 crore under stimulus package

Small businesses in rural areas will get subsidised loans of Tk3,000 crore under the Tk20,000 crore stimulus package announced by the government to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by Covid-19 pandemic.  

The Bangladesh Bank on Monday issued a guideline for banks to disburse at least 15 percent of the announced stimulus package among SMEs in rural areas. 

Women entrepreneurs will get at least 5 percent of the package which stands at Tk1,000 crore, according to the guideline. 

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

In another guideline issued on Monday over a refinancing scheme of Tk,5000 crore for the agriculture sector, the central bank set the highest interest rate at 4 percent for the receivers.

Farmers will get a loan for a maximum of 18 months, with a 6-month grace period, under the stimulus package announced by the government on April 12.

The two new guidelines came a day after the Bangladesh Bank had issued another guideline with a set of strict conditions for industries and the service sector to get loans under a Tk30,000 crore bailout package.

Conditions set by the central bank for industries and the service sector include maintaining single borrower exposure limit, loan classification and provisioning rule, and highest loan limit for both banks and clients under the bailout package.

Earlier on April 5, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a stimulus package of Tk72,750 crore, of which 69 percent or Tk50,000 crore will come from banks. 

Of the Tk50,000 crore, Tk30,000 crore has been allocated for affected industries and the service sector while Tk20,000 crore has been allocated for small and medium enterprises.

The loan of Tk30,000 crore will be given at 9 percent interest rate, of which 4.5 percent will be subsidised by the government and the rest will be paid by borrowers.  

Another stimulus package of Tk20,000 crore will be given at the same interest rate, of which 5 percent will be paid by the government.

In its guideline for SMEs, the Bangladesh Bank has asked banks to give priority to the manufacturing and service sectors. Although the trading sector will be included in the package, a single entrepreneur of a trading business will not get more than Tk1 crore in loans. 

Cottage and micro enterprises which were out of the banking channel can also take out loans under the package subject to having a considerable written financial statement of their businesses.

Medium enterprises that were also out of the banking channel will have to obtain at least marginal rating following the Guidelines on Internal Credit Risk Rating System to get loans under the newly announced package. 

Of the total amount under the package, the share of micro and small industries will be 70 percent and the remaining 30 percent will go to medium industries.

Defaulters and the borrowers who had rescheduled their loans for more than three times are barred from getting financing under the stimulus package. 

The duration of the package will be 3 years and beneficiaries will get interest subsidy from the government for a maximum of one year. 

Conditions for disbursement, use, and recovery of loans

Each bank will provide highest 10 percent of their total SME loan outstanding. 

As of September last year, the total SME loan stood at Tk2 lakh crore, reveal Bangladesh Bank data. 

According to the guideline, the working capital loans under the stimulus package can be used only for running regular business activities. They cannot be used for adjusting existing loan accounts or for business expansion.

The loan facilities cannot be extended but banks can extend them based on a borrower's good track record. In this case, borrowers will get interest subsidy only for a year. 

Banks will provide loans after ensuring that the client has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Banks will lend after assessing the gravity of losses incurred by applicants and the bank-client relationship. 

If the amount of loan sought under the package exceeds the loan limit of a bank, it will lend on a priority basis to the most affected industries. 

Banks will be entirely responsible for recovering loans and maintaining a required provision if any loan goes into default, according to the guideline.

Economy / Top News

SME / Small industry

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India plane crash: Not all dead, one survivor identified, 204 bodies recovered
  • CA informs King Charles of Bangladesh's reform initiatives
    CA informs King Charles of Bangladesh's reform initiatives
  • News of The Day, 12 JUNE 2025
    News of The Day, 12 JUNE 2025

MOST VIEWED

  • Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
    Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India plane crash: Not all dead, one survivor identified, 204 bodies recovered
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Bangladesh considering settlements with tycoons over offshore wealth: Mansur tells FT

Related News

  • SME production boost effort through common facility centres stalled for lack of funds
  • SMEs seek easier loan access for business expansion
  • Taskforce for setting up 'Dhaka Haat' for SMEs
  • Draft SME policy emphasises green financing for sustainable growth  
  • Make tax policy that helps SMEs, women: Experts

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

2d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

5d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

56m | Podcast
What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

2h | TBS World
Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

2h | TBS Insight
Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

3h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net