Money launderers get loans easily: State Minister Kamal

The country's banks lend money to those who smuggle it abroad instead of the ones who truly need it, State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder said.

The state minister made the remarks today while speaking at the agreement signing event with a partner company to distribute Tk200 crore in loans to the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.

Mentioning the example of a member of the parliament who died with loans of Tk10,000 crore, he said that young investors should be given more importance moving forward.

Speaking as the special guest at the event, he called upon the government to meet the target of distributing Tk200 crore among SMEs by next December.

"SMEs have to pay taxes despite being non-profit organisations," the state minister said, adding, "These entrepreneurs are playing a significant role in the country's development and also in creating employment opportunities".  

He drew the attention of the planning minister to the issue and demanded tax exemption for the aforementioned group.

Planning Minister MA Mannan, Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and SME Foundation Managing Director, Dr Md Mofizur Rahman and Chairman of SME Foundation, Md Masudur Rahman were present at the event alongside the senior officials from 15 banks and three financial institutions.

The SME Foundation, which disbursed Tk100 crore in credits among 925 entrepreneurs across the country until June, targets to distribute another Tk200 crore in easy loans via nineteen banks and non-bank financial institutions that will be providing loans of Tk1-50 lakh.

Women entrepreneurs will get 30% of the fund and 40% will go to those in the manufacturing sector. The rest of the money will be disbursed to those engaged in trading businesses across the country.

In January, the government approved a Tk1,500cr stimulus package to support cottage-, micro-, small- and medium-entrepreneurs (CMSME's) through NGOs, government and semi-government institutions.

For the loans, the interest rate is 4% and the repayment will be done in 24 equal instalments.

Eight institutions -- SME Foundation, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), Social Development Foundation, Palli Daridro Bimochon Foundation, Bangladesh Rural Development Board, Small Farmers Development Foundation, Joyeeta Foundation, and Bangladesh NGO Foundation -- were given the job of distributing loans.

But except for SME Foundation and BSCIC, all institutions failed to deliver the fund allotted to them by June.