DHAKA: The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Trade Finance Program (TFP) and Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) on Thursday signed an agreement to provide $10 million in loans annually to support trade in Bangladesh.
ADB’s TFP has been operating in Bangladesh since 2004 and currently works with 13 local partner banks. To date, the program has conducted 1,983 transactions, supporting almost $3.1 billion in trade in Bangladesh and benefiting 966 SMEs in a wide range of sectors including food and agricultural goods, commodities and industrial machineries, and capital goods.
“We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Dutch-Bangla by signing this revolving credit facility,” said Santosh Pokharel, TFP’s Relationship Manager for Bangladesh, according to an ADB press release. The agreement provides additional funding for DBBL to support trade and we anticipate that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit,” added Santosh.
CEO of DBBL Abul Kashem Md. Shirin said, “DBBL has been a partner bank of TFP since 2009 and we are grateful for ADB’s continued trust and assistance in promoting trade development in Bangladesh”.
In September 2017, DBBL was presented with TFP’s Leading Partner Bank in Bangladesh Award for the third consecutive year.
