Dhaka, April 6 -- The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) has called on the central bank to double the grace period for loan classification, requesting that a loan be marked as defaulted only after six months of non-payment instead of the current three.

A DCCI delegation, led by President Taskeen Ahmed, placed the demand during a meeting with Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman at the bank's headquarters on Monday afternoon.

The business leaders highlighted that the private sector is grappling with a 22-year low in credit growth, which plummeted to 6.03 percent.

With the policy rate at 10 percent, bank interest rates have soared to 16-17 percent, making institutional financing increasingly unviable for many enterprises....