The central bank issued a policy asking banks to waive certain portions of the interest accrued on the outstanding amount of loans during April and May this year, officials said.
The entire amount of interest accrued on a Tk 0.01 million loan during the period of April and May 2020 has to be waived by the bank concerned, according to the new policy, issued by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday.
Besides, 2.0 per cent of the accrued interest during the period on the amount of loan, which is in the range of more than Tk 0.01 million to Tk 1.0 million shall have to be waived by the bank.
On the other hand, 1.0 per cent of the accrued interest during the period under review on the amount of a loans above Tk 1.0 million shall have be to waived by the bank but the amount of such waiver in this category should not exceed Tk 1.2 million.
The waived amounts of interest will be reimbursed as interest subsidy by the government, provided that the rate of interest on the loans is maximum 9.0 per cent.
Earlier on May 03, the central bank directed banks to transfer all interest amounts accrued or to be accrued between April 01 and May 31 this year from all of their loans to an interest-free blocked account considering the Covid-19-induced inconvenience.
A blocked account refers to an account that does not allow for the indiscriminate withdrawal but instead has certain restrictions or limitations as to when, how much, and by whom, capital can be withdrawn.