The Bangladesh Bank has relaxed its down payment requirements to provide a strategic breather for struggling businesses, allowing affected borrower institutions to pay half of their required down payment initially to facilitate financial reorganisation.
According to a directive issued on Sunday by the Banking Regulation and Policy Department of the Bangladesh Bank, eligible institutions are now permitted to pay 50 per cent of their required down payment at the time of application, with the remainder due at a later date.
The new measure acts as a significant relaxation of the loan rescheduling and exit strategies previously established under BRPD Circular No 07/2025 and BRPD Circular Letter No 26/2025. This liquidity-support measure is specifically designed for institutions seeking reorganization under these foundational frameworks.
Under the 50/50 rule, affected borrowers must provide 50 per cent of the pre-determined down payment amount alongside their initial application. The financing institutions are then tasked with collecting the remaining 50 per cent of the down payment within the subsequent six months.
This staggered structure aims to alleviate immediate cash-flow pressures on industrial and business sectors while ensuring a clear path to repayment.
The central bank has also introduced a provision for institutions that have already received policy support but have been unable to execute it due to logical reasons.
To ensure these reorganization efforts are not derailed by practical constraints, scheduled banks and financing institutions are now authorised to extend the pre-determined implementation timelines for an additional three months. This extension provides a crucial window for borrowers to complete necessary reorganization steps that were previously hindered.
On the matter of interest waivers, the central bank reaffirmed the autonomy of individual financing institutions. Decisions regarding the waiver of interest must be made by the board of directors of the respective institution.
The Bangladesh Bank emphasised that such decisions must be grounded in existing internal policies and the established banker-customer relationship, ensuring that the concessions remain within a professional regulatory framework rather than being subject to centralised pressure.
