Banks, NBFIs sign deal with BB to disburse JICA loans for RMG units

Bangladesh Bank on Monday signed participation agreements with 25 banks and 10 non-bank financial institutions to disburse a JICA fund amounting to Tk 268 crore to the clients for remediation work of their garment industries.
The clients will be able to take loans from the fund with six per cent rate of interest to strengthen the safety measures of their RMG industrial units.
The JICA assistance will help the country’s RMG sector to strengthen its safety measures, BB governor Fazle Kabir said at the participation agreement signing
ceremony at the central bank headquarters in the capital.
The JICA initiative will ensure workers’ safety through improvement of working conditions, he said.
‘The government earlier set a target to increase the export earnings to $50 billion within 2021. The JICA assistance will play a role in achieving the target,’ he said.
He gave thanks to JICA for continuing its cooperation to strengthen the country’s RMG sector.
The governments of Bangladesh and Japan signed an agreement on December 13, 2015 to use the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s fund amounting to Tk 268 crore to strengthen the safety measures of the RMG factories under the Urban Building Safety Project.
The credit repayment tenure of the loan will be 10 and 15 years and the factory owners will also enjoy a grace period of two and three years.
A client will be allowed to get maximum loan of Tk 35 crore from the fund.
JICA Bangladesh office chief Takatoshi Nishikata, BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury and Mutual Trust Bank managing director Anis A Khan, among others, were present on the occasion.
Source: New Age