BB to allow farm loan rescheduling sans down payment

Bangladesh Bank (BB) will allow agricultural loan rescheduling without down payment in order to enhance its productivity amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Rescheduling of loans means extending or adding extra time to existing loan tenure, resulting in a revision of monthly or quarterly installment amount so that the borrowers may be able to pay a lesser amount.

This can help the borrower buy some time to adjust the repayment plan and also not default on their loans.

Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, on Tuesday issued a circular on the matter with immediate effect.

The circular said that the farmers or agricultural farms can reschedule their loans for upto two years.

"The easing of down payment depends on the bank-client relationship," the circular said.

The banks can also sanction new loans against the farms.

The farms, which have been facing certificate cases, may get new loans provided that they have obtained a deed of compromise of the cases.

The facility is applicable only for short-term agricultural loans.