The Bangladesh government gave yet another stimulus package worth Tk 3,000 crore for the export-oriented industries to help them provide wages and salaries to their workers for July. This is the third stimulus package for the export-oriented industries, which are now actively running their units, since March.

The development comes after the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), whose members generate most of the export receipts, jointly wrote to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on June 22 seeking continuation of low-cost loans for three more months to September. Accordingly, the central bank yesterday sent a letter to 47 banks to release the fund from the stimulus package for the large borrowers in the industrial and service sectors. The package's allocation was raised to Tk 33,000 crore from Tk 30,000 crore for this end.

According to this package, borrowers will have to pay 4.50 per cent interest rate to avail the fund while banks will get 9 per cent interest as the government will give the rest as subsidy. Banks will be permitted to take up 50 per cent fund from the central bank's refinance scheme to provide the credit to the export-oriented industries smoothly. Borrowers will have to pay the loans within two years including a grace period of six months.