The Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday announced a special loan rescheduling facility for short-term agricultural credit as the country’s farmers are failing to repay the bank loans regularly due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Banks can now reschedule the short-term agricultural loans for a maximum of two years by relaxing the down payment conditions, on the basis of bank-customer relationship, the central bank said in a notice issued on the day.
The notice also said that the lenders will also be able to reschedule such loans without taking any down payment.
Farmers will be able to take new loans after rescheduling the previous loans without a new deposit.
Banks can reschedule farm loans by withdrawing or settling the certificate cases if any cases are running with the clients.
The instruction is effective immediately and will continue till March 31, 2022.
“If agricultural loans are defaulted, new financing to the sector would be disrupted, which is likely to have a negative impact on the country’s GDP growth and the overall agricultural sector, '' said a senior official of the central bank.
The official also said that the central bank took such an initiative to reduce the number of defaulted loans in the sector and ensure uninterrupted credit supply to raise agricultural production.
