Bangladesh Businesses Seek Sick Industries Law: Tk 60,000 Crore Stimulus Details Unveiled

Chattogram, August 9, 2026 — Businesses have called for a "Sick Industries Law" to provide a legal framework for reviving closed factories, as Bangladesh Bank unveiled the detailed breakdown of its Tk 60,000 crore stimulus package at a stakeholder consultation meeting in Chattogram — revealing that Tk 20,000 crore has been earmarked specifically for closed industries and service-sector businesses.

📊 The Tk 60,000 Crore Stimulus Breakdown

Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman presented the detailed allocation at the meeting held at Hotel Radisson Blu in Chattogram on Saturday. The package is split into two components:

Tk 41,000 crore (from excess bank liquidity):

• 🏭 Closed industries & service-sector: Tk 20,000 crore (banks 4%, customers 7%)
• 🌾 Agriculture & rural economy: Tk 10,000 crore (banks 4%, customers 8%)
• 👥 CMSME sector: Tk 5,000 crore (banks 4%, customers 9%)
• 🌏 Export diversification: Tk 3,000 crore (customers 7%)
• 🌾 Northern agricultural hub: Tk 3,000 crore (customers 9%)

Tk 19,000 crore (from Bangladesh Bank's own funds):

• 💰 Pre-shipment credit refinancing: Tk 5,000 crore (banks 2%, customers 5%)
• 🏠 Cottage & micro enterprises: Tk 5,000 crore (banks 4%, customers 7%)
• 🐟 Frozen shrimp/fish export: Tk 2,000 crore (customers 7%)
• 👞 Leather goods & footwear: Tk 2,000 crore (customers 7%)
• ✈️ Overseas employment: Tk 1,000 crore
• 👥 Employment generation: Tk 1,000 crore
• 🌾 Rural economic activities: Tk 1,000 crore
• 🟢 Green refinancing: Tk 1,000 crore
• 💡 Creative economy: Tk 500 crore
• 🚀 Startups: Tk 500 crore

🏛️ Call for Sick Industries Law

Maruf Chowdhury, vice-president of the Chattogram Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of BGMEA, highlighted the scale of the industrial crisis: more than 6,000 factories were once listed as operating in Chattogram, but only around 2,700 remain active at present — a 55 percent closure rate that underscores the urgency of the stimulus package.

The call for a Sick Industries Law reflects the absence of a legal framework for dealing with closed factories. Without such a law, there is no structured process for determining whether a closed factory can be revived, restructured, or should be liquidated — leaving thousands of factories in limbo, their assets deteriorating, their workers unemployed, and their bank loans unpaid.

💬 Governor's Shift on Lending Approach

Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman said the country's conventional mortgage-based lending system had failed to deliver the desired results in reducing non-performing loans. Recovering loans by selling mortgaged assets after borrowers default has also proved ineffective, he said.

"Instead of relying solely on collateral or mortgages, banks need to give greater importance to the cash flow generated by the borrower's business," the governor said — signaling a fundamental shift in lending philosophy from asset-backed to cash-flow-based lending, which is the standard approach in developed financial markets.

🌏 Strategic Context

The governor said the package should not be viewed merely as a lending programme, but as a coordinated initiative to rebuild the economy, boost investment and production, and create employment. The Chattogram meeting was the first in a series of stakeholder consultations designed to ensure the stimulus reaches the intended beneficiaries — closed factories that can be revived, agricultural producers who need working capital, and SME entrepreneurs who have been locked out of the credit market.

The Tk 20,000 crore allocation for closed industries is particularly significant. At a 7 percent customer-level interest rate (well below the current 9.5 percent policy rate), the program makes it financially viable for factory owners to restart operations — assuming they have viable business models and access to raw materials (particularly gas, which remains a constraint despite the partial FSRU recovery).

✅ What Comes Next

Bangladesh Bank will issue detailed operating circulars specifying eligibility criteria, application processes, and disbursement timelines. Banks will begin accepting applications once the circulars are published — expected within the next two weeks. For the 3,300+ closed factories in Chattogram alone, and thousands more across the country, the stimulus represents the first serious government attempt to reverse the industrial decline that has accelerated since the gas crisis began in July.