ADB to lend $20.8b to Bangladesh in four years

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expected to provide $20.8 billion in loans to Bangladesh in the next four years as the country looks to accelerate economic growth and attain the upper-middle-income status in less than a decade. The amount is 42.3 percent higher than the $12 billion the country received in the previous four years, documents from the Manila-based lender showed. Of the expected financing, $16.4 billion, or 78.85 percent of the total, will be extended as ordinary capital resources (OCR) loan, since the country’s capacity to pay back has gone up. The interest rate for the OCR portion is near market-based. The rest of the loan will be concessional. The loans at near-market terms have a repayment period of 25 years and a grace period of five years. The interest rate is SOFR plus 0.75 percent. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which is replacing the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR), was 5.32 percent on Thursday, data from the Federal Reserve of Bank of New York showed. The concessional loans have the same repayment schedule, but the interest rate is fixed at 2 percent. The ADB has set a loan pipeline for 92 projects in seven sectors from 2024 to 2027. While there is no specific allocation for regular OCR loans, the ADB expects to commit around $16.4 billion between 2024 and 2027, subject to the readiness of the proposed projects. It expects to commit around $2.3 billion for 2024, $4.2 billion for 2025, $4.9 billion for 2026, and $5 billion for 2027. As per its pipeline, the ADB will provide $1.8 billion for 2024-2027 for 12 projects in the agriculture, food, nature and rural development sector; $2.9 billion for 14 projects in the energy sector; and $2.5 billion for 10 projects in the finance sector.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/adb-lend-208b-bangladesh-four-years-3639996

Tax holiday for private economic zones may continue

The government may backtrack on the proposed withdrawal of the tax holiday facilities for investors in private economic zones to encourage domestic and foreign investments, according to officials from the National Board of Revenue (NBR). The authorities are reconsidering the decision to withdraw tax holiday facilities after the announcement in the proposed budget for the fiscal 2024-25 earlier this month caused frustration among investors. Currently, investors in economic zones enjoy tax exemptions ranging from 20% to 100% for the first 10 years of production. While the proposed budget keeps these benefits for government economic zones, it cancels them for private economic zones. The government has planned to establish 100 economic zones in the country, with 97 zones already approved. Of these, 68 are government-owned and 29 are privately owned. The government anticipates attracting around $29 billion in investments across these economic zones. Currently, 11 economic zones are operational, comprising three government-owned and eight privately owned zones. In addition to these, there are 13 hi-tech parks established in the country. According to the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), investments in economic zones have already surpassed $6 billion, leading to employment opportunities for 60,000 people.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/tax-holiday-private-economic-zones-may-continue-882931

Entrepreneurs in quandary as countryside banking squeezes

Emergent entrepreneurs get into a quandary as countryside banking squeezes amid fallouts from uncapped high interest rates and obdurate inflation, thus affecting the overall national economy. Of late, commercial banks’ focus on rural Bangladesh keeps shifting with the disbursement of formal credits and the number of branches in the least-developed regions constantly shrinking. Especially facing a dire predicament is cottage, micro, small and-medium enterprise (CMSME) sector in the rural areas as they are gradually losing their market. According to data available with Bangladesh Bank (BB), commercial banks altogether had invested Tk 14.05 trillion in various sectors across Bangladesh up to March 2023 when the share of rural areas was 11.97 per cent or Tk 1.68 trillion. The remaining part (Tk 12.37 trillion or 88.03 per cent) was invested in the urban regions. The share of bank loans in rural territories continued to decline, reaching 8.05 per cent or Tk 1.24 trillion at the end of December 2023, while the share of urban areas in the same rose to 91.95 per cent or Tk 14.15 trillion. The downtrend in disbursement of loan in rural areas continued further to stand at 7.98 per cent or Tk 1.25 trillion while the share of loans and advances in the urban areas rose to 92.02 per cent or Tk 14.36 trillion, the central bank data as of March 31, 2024 showed. Top executive of Dhaka Bank PLC Emranul Huq thinks the growth of CMSMEs remains stymied in recent months as the rate of fresh disbursement keeps falling. He says the rate of interest for bank credits has increased significantly since June last year amid the central bank’s contractionary monetary stance to contain inflation, which naturally enhances the cost of fund and production for the rural enterprises. “This could be a reason behind falling demand for credit in rural areas.”

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/first-page/entrepreneurs-in-quandary-as-countryside-banking-squeezes-1719162305

Rising dollar inflow leads highest LC openings in 23 months

A surge in the inflow of remittances and export proceeds has led to an increase in dollar supply in commercial banks, resulting in the highest letter of credit (LC) openings in the last 23 months in May. However, LC settlements during the same period experienced a slight decline compared to April. Bangladesh Bank data shows in May, both the government and private commercial banks opened import LCs amounting to $6.83 billion. The previous highest $7.02 billion worth of LCs were opened in June 2022. Since then, despite fluctuations, LC openings have generally followed a decreasing trend. In April of the current year, LCs worth $5.68 billion were opened. LC openings in May increased by more than 20% compared to April. In comparison to the same period in 2023, LC openings in May increased by 19.5%.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/rising-dollar-inflow-leads-highest-lc-openings-23-months-882956