BB relaxes rules on showing interest earnings

Banks can show their interest earnings or profits of the current calendar year for realisation of a fourth of the loans payable by borrowers in 2021, said the Bangladesh Bank yesterday.

The central bank's measure comes more than three months after it said banks would not require to classify loans in case borrowers pay 25 per cent of their total payable instalments from January 2021 to the last working day of December of the same year.

Under the circumstances, banks will require to maintain an additional 2 per cent provision and keep the money in their "Special General Provision–Covid-19" accounts. The provision kept here can't be transferred to any other sector, said a Bangladesh Bank circular.

But the privilege will be cancelled if a borrower fails to pay 25 per cent of the instalments within the last working day of 2021. Banks will have to classify loans in such case as per classification criteria, it said.