Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Sonali Bank has approved an extension to the repayment time of Biman’s Tk 1000 crore loan acting on an application filed by the authorities of the national flag carrier.
The board of directors of the state-owned bank accepted Biman’s plea at its meeting held on June 21 this year, and sent a letter to Bangladesh Bank (BB) on July 8, seeking its approval.
“We are yet to get reply from the central bank on the issue,” a senior Sonali Bank official told The New Nation.
Earlier, Biman’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) Dr. Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal formally requested for extension of the loan repayment time (up to December 2021) in a letter to Sonali Bank’s CEO and MD Md. Ataur Rahman Prodhan.
The New Nation obtained a copy of the letter.
On April 13 last year, Biman Bangladesh Airlines applied to Sonali Bank for Tk 1,500 crore loan to meet its essential expenditures amid a fund crisis
created by air travel restrictions imposed worldwide to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Consequently, it caused massive financial losses to the global aviation industry. Bangladesh Biman was no exception.
On May 3, Sonali Bank sanctioned Tk 1000 crore ‘working capital loan’ to Biman under the stimulus package announced by the government to help companies and businesses to offset adverse impact of the pandemic.
The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) also provided a ‘Sovereign Guarantee’ against the loan.
Dr. Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal in his letter mentioned that Biman has plunged into an ‘unprecedented liquidity crisis’ due to worldwide travel restrictions amid Covid-19 pandemic. To overcome the crisis, Tk 1000 crore loan facility was provided to Biman under the government’s stimulus package. On 5 May last year, Biman availed Tk 788 crore out of the total sanctioned amount as first installment. The deadline to repay loan installment has already been expired.
When asked, Sonali Bank’s CEO Md. Ataur Rahman Prodhan told The New Nation, “Biman’s application for extending loan repayment tenure is under process. We have already forwarded the matter to the central bank for its approval.”
“We will act in line with the BRPD (Banking Regulation and Policy Department) circular in this regard. According to the circular, tenure of the working capital loan under the stimulus package has been set at highest one year. The investment facility under the package is not renewable. However, the repayment terms could be relaxed based on the banker-customer relationship,” a BB high official told The New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
He added the interest rate of the loans under the package has been fixed at 9.0 per cent of which the government will provide 4.5 per cent as subsidy. But an industry or service sector enterprise would not get the interest subsidy once the loan tenure is extended beyond the set timeframe.
On April 5 last year, the government announced Tk 30,000 crore working capital loan for Covid-19 affected industries and service sectors under its economic stimulus package.
Later, the size of the fund was raised to Tk 40,000 crore.
