The central bank has extended time the loan repayment period for customers of non-bank financial institutions by three months. The customer will be able to repay the loan installment till March this year till June. Debts cannot be defaulted at this time as well as penalty interest and additional fees, charges or commissions cannot be recovered.

On Tuesday (April 20), the Financial Institutions Division of Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on 'Loans, Leases, Advance Classification'.

It said the debt classification of financial institutions had already been relaxed in view of the negative impact of the epidemic coronavirus. New decisions have been made about customers who will have difficulty repaying loan installments due to any reason arising from Kovid.

According to the new guidelines, customers will be able to repay the loan in March 2021 till June. At this time, the loan cannot be classified as defaulted, as well as penalty interest and additional fees, charges or commissions cannot be collected.

The directive was issued under the powers conferred by section 16 (g) of the Financial Institutions Act, 1993, which will come into effect soon, the central bank said in a circular.

Sunbd/NJ