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Despite a 50-basis-point cut in interest rate margin, the lending rate in the banking sector reached 13.55 per cent in April because of a significant rise in reference or SMART rate.
As the SMART (six-month moving average rate of treasury bill) rate enhanced to 10.55 per cent applicable for April from March count of 9.61 per cent despite various cautious approaches of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank decided to reduce the interest rate margin by 50 basis points to 3.0 per cent from existing 3.50 per cent to ease of doing business.
With the latest cut in margin, the maximum lending rate in banks stood at 13.55 per cent from April 2024, which was 13.11 per cent in the previous month.