Small borrowers will now be eligible for credit guarantee facilities under two new refinancing schemes of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
The refinancing schemes, totalling Tk4,400 crore, are for agricultural-product processing and small enterprises run by women, the central bank said on Wednesday.
In October this year, Bangladesh Bank's SME department introduced a Tk1,400 crore refinancing scheme, and in June this year, a Tk3,000 crore refinancing scheme for small enterprises run by women entrepreneurs.
The credit guarantee schemes will increase loans and funds for women entrepreneurs and agricultural-product processing in small-scale industrial units.
A Bangladesh Bank circular issued on the day said that banks and financial institutions need new participating agreements when disbursing loans under the two new refinancing facilities.
It said only one scheme will be enjoyed by the borrowers.
There are now four credit-guarantee funding options available.
They are Tk25,000 crore for pre-financing, Tk30,000 crore for the women entrepreneurs' refinancing scheme, Tk5,000 crore for the agricultural-product processing refinancing scheme and Tk500 crore for the financial-inclusion scheme.
Borrowers under the category of CMSMEs (cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises) can avail of collateral-free loans ranging from Tk5 lakh to Tk5 crore.