Stimulus funds hardly reaching farmers

The central bank yesterday again extended the deadline for banks to disburse the Tk 5,000-crore stimulus package for entrepreneurs in the farm sector by three months following lacklustre lending.

When the package was announced in April, banks were asked to disburse the fund by September 30. But they have shown a poor performance, prompting the banking regulator to extend the timeframe until December.

But, the Bangladesh Bank has been forced to extend the deadline until March next year as lenders gave out 55.86 per cent of the stimulus fund as of December 15, according to data from the central bank.

As per the central bank rules, the affected clients of banks can receive an additional 20 per cent of their existing credit ceiling under the scheme.

In case of new borrowers, banks will fix the credit ceiling through scrutiny. Loans taken under the scheme cannot be used to adjust the old credit of the clients.

The tenure for the loans will be 18 months, including a grace period of six months at both banks and clients' ends.

Banks will borrow from the refinancing scheme at 1 per cent interest rate, which they will lend at 4 per cent.