Business leaders have sought several facilities, including foreign exchange support from the foreign exchange reserve to import essential commodities and moratorium on loan repayments up to June 2023.
A delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) raised the demand in a meeting with Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Monday.
Though Bangladesh exported a record $5.0 billion worth of goods in November, the traders sought the moratorium, which is similar to deferment, when a lender allows deferred loan repayments for a specific period, according to UNB.
Usually, the reason involves some kind of financial hardship, but it was also allowed during the pandemic period.
After the meeting, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) President Md Jashim Uddin said, “In Ramadan, the country requires many other products besides essential commodities. That's why I asked for ease of import and requested to provide foreign exchange assistance from reserves for opening LC from the reserve, if required.”
“Bangladesh Bank has assured to do so,” he said.
The BB Executive Director and Spokesperson Mezbaul Haque said that the global context and the current economic situation of the country were discussed in the meeting.
“FBCCI has sought policy benefits. We will consider FBCCI matters. But no decision has been taken till now,” he said.
Jashim Uddin said, “Production has been disrupted due to the energy and gas crisis. Due to these factors, the factories cannot be run. Raw material cannot be imported due to LC complexity. This has an impact on business.”
“If you can't do business, you can't pay the loan installments. So the differed loan repayment facility should be extended till June next year. So that no one would become a defaulter. If the customer defaults, the bank will also default. So I think it is logical to increase the loan repayment time.”
The business leader also sought a single rate of dollar resolving the existing several rates of dollar for LC opening and another purpose.
Responding to a question regarding the interest rate cap, the FBCCI president said that if the interest rate is low, investment is high.
“So, I don't see the need to lift the interest rate cap now. For this reason, I have requested that the interest rate cap should not be lifted for the next one year,” he added.
The delegation includes FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin; Senior Vice-President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu; Vice Presidents M A Momen, Md Amin Helaly, Salahuddin Alamgir, Md. Habib Ullah Dawn; Directors Mohammad Ali Khokon, Prity Chakraborty; Secretary General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque; BKMEA President Mohammad Hatem and others.