News report said four state-owned commercial banks recovered only three percent of their full-year loan recovery target from top 20 defaulters in the first three months of 2015. The banks officials have blamed political unrest for the slow recovery drive. The report said between January and March, Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank and Rupali Bank retrieved from top 20 defaulters only Tk 30.38 crore against the whole year target of Tk 975 crore. Apart from the top 20, the banks realised Tk 322 crore or 11 percent of the whole year target of Tk 2,925 crore at this time.The report quoted the managing director of Sonali Bank as blaming political unrest for the scanty success in loan recovery making it also clear that retrieving loans from defaulters is really difficult. It is true that many businesses were affected by political unrest; they failed to keep their doors open to earn enough income to repay the loans. Many others were not even able to use their loans. However this is the case with small businesses; big businesses have their own perspectives. They are holding the biggest amount of overdue loan both individually and collectively. Many of them are willful defaulters and using political connection for loan rescheduling. It means they are avoiding repayment. There is no doubt that political unrest played significant role to put to failure many loan recovery drives. But it is also true that big businesses had suffered less because their investment portfolios are spread over to many businesses at home and abroad. They avoid risks by diversifying investments. What is noticeable is that political unrest has become a common cause to give shelter to failure in day to day businesses. Banks officials are blaming political unrest for failing to achieve their loan recovery target. The government has blamed political unrest for setback in this year’s HSC results. The biggest loan overdue is now in the transport sector where owners are using similar blame on the political unrest for failing to repay money in time. The question is whether political unrest can alone explain all such failures. Then how the manpower engaged to render their services on handsome payment can explain their own role. Unrest can’t give impunity to human failures all the time. It is well known that political shelter to loan defaulters is the biggest impediment to loan recovery. The situation is further aggravating because of lack of energetic drive and from the fact that bank officials themselves often fail to prevail upon the defaulters. They even make compromise. It is advisable that all banks must have rewarding and reprimanding system to realize business targets. Playing political unrest to cover failure must come to an end.
