Dhaka:The Bangladesh Bank has announced an increase in the Pre-Shipment Credit Refinance Scheme to Tk 7,000 crore, up from Tk 5,000 crore, aiming to provide low-cost financing for exporters.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the central bank's circular directed all scheduled banks' chief executives to implement the revised arrangements. An additional Tk 2,000 crore will be transferred from the Export Facilitation Pre-finance Fund (EFPF) to the pre-shipment credit scheme, reducing the EFPF's size to Tk 3,000 crore from its initial Tk 10,000 crore.
Exporters will access loans under this scheme at an interest rate of up to 6 percent annually. Participating financial institutions (PFIs) will pay 3 percent interest to Bangladesh Bank for refinancing facilities. Institutions failing to repay within the prescribed period will incur interest at the prevailing bank rate for the actual default period.
The circular permits financial institutions to repay the refinance facility before maturity or make partial repayments. These measures, issued under Section 45 of the Bank Company Act, 1991, are effective immediately. Other instructions from BRPD Circular No. 08/2022 and BRPD-1 Circular Letter No. 12/2026 remain unchanged.