Badrul Ahsan :
The default loans in banks stood at 10.53 per cent of the total outstanding of Tk 6,970 billion as of March 31, 2017 mainly due to a number of financial scams in different commercial banks and loose monitoring by the Central Bank on the non-performing loans, experts said.
The default loans were 9.92 per cent of the total outstanding of Tk 5,986.48 billion as of March 31, 2016.
The latest data of central bank shows that default loans in the banking sector rose by Tk 112.37 billion in just three months (January-March) of this year.
Experts and Bangladesh Bank (BB) officials expressed grave concern over the situation saying the banking sector would face a vulnerable situation soon if the existing upward trend in the classified loans continued.
According to BB data, the amount of default loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 734.09 billion as of March 31, 2017, rising from Tk 621.72 billion as of December 31, 2016.
BB officials said that the amount of defaulted loans in January-March of 2017 had increased significantly compared with that in the same period a year ago as the central bank had recently unearthed a number of financial scams in different commercial banks.
Besides, the defaulted loans increased by Tk 80.40 billion to Tk 594.12 billion as of March 31, 2016 from Tk 513.71 billion as of December 31, 2015, the BB data showed.
However, considering the alarming situation, BB has recently appointed observers in two banks – NRB Commercial Bank and AB Bank – as it found huge irregularities in the banks.
The Central Bank will be forced to appoint observers in more banks if the rising trend in defaulted loans persists in the coming days.
Former interim government adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told The New Nation on Thursday that financial stability in the banking sector would decrease more if the banks failed to curb the upward trend in the defaulted loans.
He said, ‘The excessive default loans will create risky situation for the depositors. So, the authorities concerned should take immediate measures to control the non-performing loans in the interest of the whole financial sector.’
The BB, the Finance Ministry and the Law Ministry should take a joint initiative to decrease the defaulted loans, he said.
The huge default loans have already put an adverse impact on the good borrowers as they have to count higher interest rate due to the non-performing loans in the banking sectors, he said.
Meanwhile, the BB data showed that default loans in the six state-owned banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC and Bangladesh Development Bank – increased by Tk 46.91 billion to Tk 357.16 billion as of March 31, 2017 from Tk 310.25 billion as of December 31, 2016.
The non-performing loans in the private commercial banks rose by Tk 66.70 billion to Tk 297.27 billion as of March 31, 2017 from Tk 230.58 billion as of December 31, 2016.
This is mainly due to spill over of law suits at courts, the BB sources said.
The default loans in the two specialised development bank – Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank – posted an unchanged NPL amount of Tk 56.84 billion between December 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017.
The specialised development banks usually submit their defaulted loan figures after every six months.
The defaulted loans in the nine foreign commercial banks, however, decreased by Tk 22.82 billion as of March 31, 2017 from Tk 24.05 billion as of December 31, 2016.
