In an ambitious move to curb structural youth unemployment, the government has unveiled a sweeping financial package designed to jump-start early-stage ventures and small businesses. Budding entrepreneurs across the country will soon be eligible for unsecured, collateral-free credit lines of up to 10 lakh Taka, with interest rates strictly capped at 7 per cent. Furthermore, the central bank has simultaneously carved out a specialised 500 crore Taka refinancing instrument explicitly targeting high-growth tech startups at a heavily subsidised borrowing cost of just 4 per cent.
The extensive stimulus measures were outlined by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury during a parliamentary session on Sunday, 12 July 2026. The fiscal policies were announced on the 23rd day of the first budget session of the 13th National Parliament, which convened at 3:00 pm under the stewardship of Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram. The minister was responding to a formal written inquiry tabled by Kurigram-3 lawmaker Mohammad Mahbubul Alam regarding targeted job-creation strategies for the younger demographic.
To significantly widen the safety net for the Cottage, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (CMSME) sector, Bangladesh Bank has quintupled its dedicated seed capital facility. The state’s refinancing reserve for first-time business founders has been expanded from a modest 100 crore Taka to an impressive 500 crore Taka pool.
Under the freshly overhauled operational parameters of this CMSME programme, grassroots innovators can draw down up to 10 lakh Taka without standard property or asset pledges. For established micro-enterprises looking to scale up and possessing matching collateral, the maximum borrowing ceiling has been pushed to 35 lakh Taka, offering an affordable path to commercial maturity.
Recognising that early-stage tech startups operate on high risk profiles that typically alienate conventional retail banks, the Finance Minister heavily emphasised the rollout of the dedicated “Start-Up Fund”. This discrete 500 crore Taka capital tool will offer highly flexible liquidity options, ensuring that promising software, logistics, and digital services firms can survive their initial development phases.
Crucially, the state is also orchestrating a distinct shift from mere debt financing toward deep-seated institutional equity investments. Chowdhury revealed that the central bank has brought together 39 scheduled commercial banks to create a public limited entity named the “Bangladesh Start-Up Investment Company, PLC”. This vehicle will allow the banking sector to actively take equity stakes in promising homegrown enterprises, providing both corporate governance and patient venture capital.
The ministerial briefing concluded with an update on broader state-backed youth development pipelines. A previous 1,000 crore Taka credit scheme, managed via the specialized Karmasangsthan Bank to empower vocational trainees, successfully reached its operational conclusion on 14 July 2025. To prevent any lapse in macroeconomic support, the Finance Minister confirmed that the regulatory frameworks for a successor fund worth 1,200 crore Taka are currently being finalised by treasury officials, promising continued liquidity for independent regional enterprises.