UCB offers 7% loans to leather, frozen food exporters

United Commercial Bank (UCB) has joined two Bangladesh Bank (BB) pre-financing schemes, each worth Tk2,000 crore, to provide loans at a concessional interest rate of 7% to businesses in the leather and frozen food sectors.

The initiative aims to improve access to affordable financing, strengthen export competitiveness and support industrial expansion, according to a press release.

UCB signed separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with BB to participate in the schemes at the central bank’s headquarters recently.

UCB Deputy Managing Director Md Ridwanul Hoque exchanged the MoUs with BB Directors Md Jabdul Islam and A K M Saiduzzaman.

BB Deputy Governor Md Anis-ur-Rahman, Executive Directors Arif Hossain Khan and Nahid Rahman, and UCB Head of SME Mohammad Selim Chowdhury, among other senior officials, attended the ceremony.

The leather sector scheme will support environmentally friendly production, improve export competitiveness and create employment opportunities. The frozen food scheme, meanwhile, will provide financing for working capital, factory establishment and modernisation, and the development of cold storage facilities.

Exporters of frozen shrimp, fish, vegetables, paratha and other eligible products will also be able to access the loans to expand production capacity and meet international market requirements.

With the latest agreements, UCB’s participation in BB’s refinancing and pre-financing schemes has risen to 17, extending access to affordable financing for entrepreneurs in the SME, agriculture and other eligible sectors.