Dhaka, July 3 -- Bangladesh Bank has introduced a new lending facility, allowing domestic individuals and institutions to secure Taka-denominated loans using foreign currency funds held in Offshore Banking Units (OBUs) as collateral.

The central bank issued a circular detailing this directive on Thursday.

Under the new policy, non-resident account holders can now leverage their foreign currency deposits in OBUs as collateral to obtain loans from the domestic units of banks within Bangladesh. Similarly, Bangladeshi expatriates will also be able to use their foreign currency held in OBUs as security for Taka loans in the country.

According to the Bangladesh Bank notification, a "reasonable relationship" must exist between the borrower an...