Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) has sought Finance Minister AMA Muhith's help to solve its fund crisis for extending its loan program up to Upazilla level.
BHBFC Managing Director Dr Nurul Alam has recently sent a letter to the finance minister with a request to solve fund crisis of the state-run financial institution either through recapitalisation by budgetary allocation or credits from the government agencies.
BHBFC virtually suspended its lending programme since last January due to fund shortage as the management had verbally instructed its staff not to process any loan application.
BHBFC, in its letter, sought a budgetary allocation of Tk500 crore for the current fiscal year while Tk500 crore every fiscal year.
The management instructed verbally the staff not to process any loan application, said officials of the Banking and Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry.
The state-run financial institution responsible for providing housing loans won't be able to resume its credit programme shortly without recapitalisation by the government.
“We need adequate funds to finance at district and sub-district levels as per the directives of President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Presently, BHBFC’s annual demand for loan is about Tk1000 crore,” he noted.
He also said this institution was unable in expanding its activities to upazila and district levels due to fund crisis against the backdrop of increasing demands for house loans in Kishoreganj, Gopalganj, Sirajganj and Srimangal after opening branch offices in these towns.
“But, we are unable to disburse any loan in those areas due to severe fund shortage.”
