SMESPD Circular Letter No. 06: Renaming the 'Small Enterprise Refinance Scheme' and Augmentation of Funds

Bangladesh Bank Head Office Motijheel, Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh.

SMESPD Circular Letter No. 06 Date: 11 Asharh, 1430 25 June, 2023

To, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer All Scheduled Banks and Financial Institutions operating in Bangladesh

Subject: Renaming of the 'Small Enterprise Refinance Scheme' and Augmentation of Funds.

Reference is invited to SMESPD Circular No. 02 dated 05 September 2019, SMESPD Circular Letter No. 02 dated 07 May 2020, and SMESPD Circular Letter No. 09 dated 04 August 2021.

2. With the approval of Bangladesh Bank, the name of the 'Small Enterprise Refinance Scheme' (SERFS) operating under its authorization is changed to 'Small Enterprise Refinance Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs' (SERFS-WE), and the amount of the said fund is increased from 1,500 crore to 3,000 crore Bangladeshi Taka.

3. Furthermore, the incentive guidelines regarding loans/investments distributed to women entrepreneurs, as contained in SMESPD Circular No. 08 dated 17 August 2021 and other related instructions in SMESPD Circular Letter No. 02 dated 20 June 2022, along with the aforementioned circulars and circular letters, shall remain unchanged.

4. These instructions are issued under the powers conferred by Section 45 of the Bank Companies Act, 1991, and Section 18 of the Financial Institutions Act, 1993, and shall take immediate effect.

Yours faithfully,

(Mohammad Ashikur Rahman) Director (SMESPD) Phone: 9530502