BB okays extra home loans

Bangladesh Bank's housing refinance scheme will get an additional Tk 57 crore to adjust the excess credit already disbursed by banks and other financial institutions.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) at its board meeting yesterday approved the proposal for sanctioning the extra amount to meet April's demand for home loans, said a BB official.
The amount will be in addition to the total refinanced amount of Tk 700 crore under the scheme, which has already been exhausted in March.
"This is a good initiative of the central bank to resolve the crisis that arose after the disbursement of home-loan of Tk 72 crore by the banks and financial institutions for April," said QM Shariful Ala, managing director of Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation.
He said the home-loan scheme has received a tremendous response from the middle and low-income people.
The loan scheme has created an opportunity for the middle and low-income group in the city to have homes of their own, taking home-loans from the banks and financial institutions at an interest rate of 9 percent, but their dreams would be dashed if the project does not get more fund, he said.
Sharif said BB should continue the scheme with a bigger fund of at least Tk 1,000 crore.
The central bank launched the refinancing scheme initially with Tk 300 crore for housing loan in fiscal 2007-08.
Later, the fund was increased to Tk 700 crore. The entire amount of Tk 700 crore exhausted in March, as the financial and banking institutions took about Tk 45 crore to Tk 50 crore in a month to disburse loan to buyers of flats and houses who have monthly income of up to Tk 50,000.
Borrowers are entitled to a loan of up to Tk 20 lakh at a 9 percent interest for a period of 20 years.