BRAC Bank has joined Bangladesh Bank's Tk 3,000 crore revolving refinance scheme, set up to strengthen agriculture-based economic activity in northern Bangladesh. An agreement between the two was signed at Bangladesh Bank's head office on Wednesday, 9 September; the bank announced it in a press release on Saturday, 12 September.

The scheme will finance higher agricultural production, a stronger supply chain for farm produce, job creation and income-generating activity in the districts of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions. Farmers can borrow under it at a maximum interest rate of 7 percent.

To bring the whole chain from the field to the consumer under financing, the scheme sets out four stages: production and storage; transport, marketing and infrastructure; agro-based manufacturing and processing; and export.

Sectors that stand to benefit include crop production, fisheries, livestock, farm machinery, cold chain facilities, warehousing, food and dairy processing and seed production.

Deputy Governor Dr Md Kabir Ahmed, Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan and Chowdhury Liakat Ali, director of the Sustainable Finance Department, represented Bangladesh Bank at the signing. BRAC Bank was represented by Kazi Dilruba Akter, head of SME Business Support, and Liton Kumar Biswas, senior relationship manager for MFI and Agriculture Finance.

The north grows much of the country's rice, potatoes, vegetables and fish, but investment in storage and processing has lagged. A 7 percent scheme offers small and mid-sized agri-entrepreneurs a cheaper route to finance cold storage, machinery and processing capacity.

Source: banglanews24