Move to provide loans to CMSMEs
TALHA BIN HABIB | Thursday, 18 June 2020
The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) has taken a move toprovide loans to cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) forcontinuing their businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, an official said.
As recommended bythe BSCIC, he said, the ministry of industries (MoI) has requested the ministry of finance (MoF) for a fund of Tk6.0 billion for the lending purposes.
"The CMSMEsare passing through a tough time due to the Covid-19," BSCIC ChairmanMdMostaque Hassan told the FE on Wednesday.
The government has already announced several stimulus packages to help the country's businesses and economy sustain the impact of the pandemic.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has also taken measures to provide loans to the CMSMEs following the directives of the government.
There are around 7.8 million CMSM entrepreneurs in the country, according to a survey report prepared by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2013.But a significant number of the entrepreneurs still do not have easy access to the loans from the banking channel.
The BSCIC chief further said that if they get the fund from the MoF, they will provide hassle-free loans to the bona-fide entrepreneurs of cottage, handicraft, leather goods, boutique fashion,design and light engineering sectors.
Meanwhile,the CMSM entrepreneurs have welcomed the move and said they were running the businesses withtheir savings as well as loans from their near and dear ones.
But they are now passing through difficult time as the pandemic has almost devastated their businesses.
A high official of the MoF, who is dealing with the matter, told the FE on Wednesday that they were working on the matter with active consideration.