Export Development Fund and back-to-back sight LCs
What EDF is
The Export Development Fund is a Bangladesh Bank facility used to finance eligible exporters’ imports of inputs. It is not a general loan for consumer goods, and it is not a substitute for an importer’s ordinary usance limit. Desks that label every raw-material LC as “EDF” without a facility approval are misusing the name. The fund has its own instructions on who may draw, at what price, and for what tenor. Those instructions are not restated as numbers on this page, because copying an old rate would be worse than omitting it.
The one sentence in Circular 30
FEPD-1 Circular No. 30 of 13 August 2026 is the consolidated import circular. In Part G, on back-to-back credits, it says that back-to-back LCs opened against the Export Development Fund administered by Bangladesh Bank, or against balances on Non-Resident Foreign Currency Deposit accounts, may be on sight basis, subject to the relevant instructions. That is an exception to the general usance basis described in the same paragraph for other back-to-back credits. It is not a waiver of value addition, bonded-warehouse registration, or the master LC’s validity.
Sight does not mean undocumented
A sight EDF drawing is still an import letter of credit. If it incorporates UCP 600, examination is still Article 14 and refusal is still Article 16. The sight feature changes when the beneficiary is paid and how the exporter’s input finance is booked. It does not change the bill of lading, the invoice, or the requirement to report the import through the AD. OIMS and the IMP form, as Circular 30 describes them for permissible imports, remain the reporting path.
NFCD is named in the same sentence
The circular pairs EDF with NFCD balances. A sight back-to-back credit can also be opened against NFCD balances, again subject to the relevant instructions. Do not treat NFCD as a casual FC account. The account rules and the back-to-back rules both apply. If the balance is not an NFCD balance of the kind the circular means, the sight exception is not yours to extend.
Where to stop
Do not invent an EDF interest rate, an all-in cost cap, or a list of eligible HS codes on this page. Those live in the EDF circular that is current on the day you book the drawing, and in the bank’s sanction. If the research box is given the goods and the proposed tenor, use it against the circular text, not against this summary.
Source
Bangladesh Bank, FEPD-1 Circular No. 30, 13 August 2026, Part G. Quote: back-to-back LCs opened against the Export Development Fund or NFCD balances may be on sight basis, subject to the relevant instructions. PDF: bb.org.bd. Open the cited source.
Frequently asked questions
Is EDF a general import loan?
No. It is a Bangladesh Bank facility for eligible exporters’ import of inputs. It is not a consumer-import facility.
May an EDF-funded back-to-back LC be at sight?
FEPD-1 Circular No. 30 says back-to-back LCs opened against EDF administered by Bangladesh Bank, or against NFCD balances, may be on sight basis, subject to the relevant instructions.
Does this page set the EDF price or tenor?
No. Eligibility, price and tenor are those of the current EDF circular and the bank’s sanction, not of this summary.