The new SME Foundation chief said yesterday he would fast-track a credit-wholesaling programme to give financial support to small entrepreneurs.
"We have been emphas-ising how to ensure an easy credit access for SME entrepreneurs. The number of small entrepreneurs without access to credit is large,” said Aftab ul Islam.
“We are also planning to set up a SME bank to help entrepreneurs get loans at ease terms and a low interest rate,” he added.
Islam was speaking to the press at SME Foundation in Dhaka to mark the start of his new job as its chairman.
“Once we get the fund from Bangladesh Bank, reserved for refinancing the SME sector, we will start a credit wholesaling progra-mme in full force,” he said.
The central bank introduced the Tk 100 crore SME refinancing scheme to increase SMEs' access to loans at a lower rate in 2004.
The size of the fund widened to Tk 300 crore in fiscal 2007-08 and further to Tk 500 crore a year later.
The central bank has refinanced Tk 534.1 crore to 13 banks and 19 financial institutions from August 2007, according to statistics.
“A specialised bank for the SME sector can help entrepreneurs get loans at a low interest rate and without collateral. There are many banks still unwilling to deal with the SME entrepreneurs, driven by a common misunderstanding that the entrepreneurs might fail to refund the loans,” said Islam.
“We have to change our attitude toward SMEs and help them grow to transform the economic status of the country,” he added.
The foundation has set up 32 'help-line centres' in different districts and a further 37 are underway.
Professor Momtaz Uddin Ahmed, managing director of the foundation, was also present at the press meet.