Sonali Bank raises SME credit fund by 61pc

Sonali bank's budget for credit disbursement under SME scheme has been increased by 61 per cent in the current calendar year compared to the last year, a high official said. The official also said Sonali Bank has taken a good number of initiatives for disbursement of loan especially for woman entrepreneurs under Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) scheme. In 2010 total credit budget of the bank for SME scheme was Tk 13.6 billion whereas the budget has been increased to Tk 35 billion in 2011, according to bank statistics. The statistics said Tk 0.60 billion in service sector, Tk 7.86 billion in business sector and Tk 16.43 billion in industry sector had been disbursed in 2010. The official said the woman entrepreneurs would get SME credit without security up to Tk one million and in future this amount would be increased if the woman entrepreneurs proved themselves successful. Ten per cent interest has been fixed for specially woman entrepreneurs for loans in project, industry and for business purposes, the official said. The official also said more than Tk 1.43 billion has been disbursed among 1127 woman entrepreneurs so far in the current calendar year. Project credit specially in industry, business and service sectors would be available from 130 branches of the bank across the country whereas trading credit would be sanctioned from all branches of the bank, the official said. For sanctioning and delivery of SME credit in the country 61 model branches of the bank have been selected from where the entrepreneurs would get SME credit easily, the official said. The official said at present SME monitoring unit has been set up at every branch of the bank, up which will make sanctioning and disbursement of credit easier. Bangladesh Bank has recently directed the Sonali Bank to disburse credit under SME scheme in solar power, biogas and purification of wastage plant sectors. For this reason Sonali Bank in the current calendar year has also permitted all branches to grant credit in these sectors, the official said. He further said the bank has also taken vigorous steps to sanction cluster loans and initially cluster loans have been disbursed in Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Cox's Bazar and three hilly districts.