Eight banks, four NBFIs ink deal with BB on IPFF II

Eight banks and four non-bank financial institutions on Tuesday signed a participation agreement with Bangladesh Bank to enjoy funds from an Investment Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) II project.

The signatories are Dhaka Bank, Prime Bank, Eastern Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, United Commercial Bank, ONE Bank, City Bank, IDLC Finance, Infrastructure Development Company, Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund, and Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company.

The central bank, as the project's administrator, has formed a $403.70 million fund to lend to financial institutions, authorising them to refinance customers in power and infrastructure projects at a lower cost.

BB Governor Fazle Kabir was present at the signing ceremony as the chief guest at the central bank headquarters in the capital.

Ahmed Jamal, deputy governor of the central bank; Hassan O Rashid, project director of IPFF II; AKM Abdullah, senior financial sector specialist of World Bank, and senior executives of the signatories were present at the event.

The government received loans amounting to $356.70 million from World Bank to implement the IPFF II project.

The government provided $60 million as a counterpart fund to the project. The total project cost stands at $416.70 million, out of which the amount being lent is $403.70 million. The rest of the fund will be used as technical assistance.

-rmc//