Relaxed rescheduling open till Sept 7

Defaulters will get till September 7 to apply for rescheduling their loans under the central bank's relaxed policy as per a Bangladesh Bank notice to banks yesterday. The relaxed policy was made available in May to allow defaulters to clear their loans.

However, the High Court issued a status quo, putting the effectiveness of the notice on hold until June 23, barring rescheduling of default loans under the policy.

However, the Supreme Court on July 8 issued a stay on the High Court order for two months. "The stay order on the High Court's status quo will end on September 7, so the BB has allowed defaulters to reschedule their classified loans until that date," said a BB official.

If required, the central bank will change its directive in accordance with court orders, he said.

Under the policy, defaulters can make a 2 percent down payment to avail a 9 percent interest rate and 10 years, including one year's grace period, to pay back their loans.