Govt to provide Tk 5.0b to BHBFC

FE Report | Published: August 02, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government has taken decision to provide Tk 5.0 billion to Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) aiming to continue its loan disbursement activities and meet the existing capital shortfall, officials said.
The BHBFC has long been facing capital crunch and the loan disbursement of the state-run entity is being hampered, a high official said.
There is a high demand for housing loan in the country, but it is not possible for the BHBFC to disburse loan among the people due to the shortage of necessary funds, he said.
He, however, said the BHBFC has set a target to disburse Tk 4.0 billion as loan for the current fiscal year (FY'16). If the government does not provide the fund, the entity will fail to meet the target, he added.
The BHBFC set a target of disbursing loan worth Tk 4.50 billion for the FY'15.
The government will provide Tk 5.0 billion fund to BHBFC, of which Tk 2.0 billion will be disbursed in the first two consecutive years each and some Tk 1.0 billion will be provided in the final year.
The criteria for getting the fund are: the loan must be used as housing loan under BHBFC and the rate of annual interest of the money provided by the government would be 3.0 per cent.
The initiative is taken mainly to meet the housing demand across the country, especially in the country's rural areas, a high official of the ministry of finance (MoF) said.
"We need adequate funds to extend house building financing at district and upazila (subdistrict) levels to follow the directives of the government," a high official of the BHBFC said.
Presently, BHBFC's annual demand for loan is about Tk 10 billion. But the corporation could not invest in line with people's expectations because of fund shortage, he said.
MoF sources said the BHBFC received some Tk 1.50 billion, Tk 575 million, Tk 250 million, Tk 400 million and Tk 500 million in the FYs 200910, 201011, 201112, 201213 and 201314 respectively as loans from the government.
The BHBFC provides house building loans in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan cities at a rate of 12 per cent, while the rate is 10 per cent for other cities and towns.
The housing corporation has a plan to expand its activities by setting up an office in every district gradually.
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