Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed banks to speed up disbursement of stimulus funds among businesses in Cottage, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (CMSME) sector to achieve disbursement target by June.

The central bank asked the top executives of banks to ensure all-out support and enhance monitoring of stimulus loans disbursement for CMSME sector.

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The central bank fixed the deadline after seeing slow pace in stimulus loan disbursement to CMSMEs in the last 8 months (July-February) of the fiscal year (FY) 2021-22.

Md. Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of BB, told UNB on Sunday that a special cell of the central bank jointly with Sonali Bank is monitoring the disbursement of stimulus loans to CMSMEs.

Besides, lead banks (selected for leading loans disbursement in specific districts) are working in combination with other banks to bring pace in stimulus loans disbursement, he said.

The spokesperson said that the central bank provides credit guarantee against all types of loans for CMSME sector entrepreneurs.

The government declared a Tk 20,000 crore stimulus loans package to help the CMSMEs from to overcome the financial shock due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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In the first phase, the loan disbursement rate was 77 percent of the target in eight months (July-February) in the last fiscal year.

In the second phase, the banks disbursed Tk 7,117 crore loans among businesses in CMSME sector in the first eight months of the current financial year (July-February) which is 36.80 percent of the target.