To help garment factory owners secure loan easily, the Bangladesh government has fixed a new rate of interest and services charges under the donor-assisted refinancing fund. Charges have now been capped at 7.0 per cent, which used to be between 9-10 per cent earlier, according to a guideline issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The new rate comes as the Bank of Bangladesh (BB) is yet to start disbursing money from the remediation fund on a full scale basis because of high interest rate and service charges levied by the government agencies. A fund of over Tk 3.18 billion (U$38-40 lying idle after poor demand from the owners due to unfavourable interest rate, it is pointed out.

So far, the country's apparel entrepreneurs avoided accessing to funds at 9-10 per cent interest from the facility that has a cheap foreign-aided component. It may be remembered that the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has repeatedly been demanding to bring down the interest rate and service charges between 3.0-5.0 per cent.