Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The state-owned banks are reeling under deep trouble owing to a big chunk of outstanding loans disbursed to the public enterprises.
The outstanding loan amount of the State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) at Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali and BASIC Banks has reached Tk 28,800 crore as on January 31 this year, according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
Officials of the banks said, the loans have been disbursed to the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) as ‘spoon feeding’ following instruction from the Ministry of Finance.
The statistics shows that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) tops the list with Tk 9,338 crore outstanding loan followed by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Tk 7,108 crore, Bangladesh Chemical and Industries Corporation (BCIC) Tk 3,263 crore, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) Tk 1,745 crore, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporations (BJMC) Tk 1,157 crore and Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Tk 907 crore.
Sonali Bank, the country’s largest public bank, has Tk 14,000 crore outstanding loans lying with the SoEs, Janata Bank Tk 6,618 crore, Rupali Bank
Tk 3,812 crore, Agrani Bank Tk 3,333 crore and BASIC Bank Tk 1,039 crore, says the BB statistics.
“The outstanding loans of the SoEs remain a big problem for us as their debts have created a liquidity crisis in the banks, particularly the Sonali Bank,” a senior official of the bank told The New Nation on Friday, asking not to be named.
He said, Sonali Bank is holding the largest amount of outstanding loan of the SoEs and such a huge struck up fund is slowing the bank’s overall business.
Earlier, Hallmark Group and five other companies swindled Tk 3,547 crore from the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch through resorting to various means of forgery.
“The bank fell into capital shortfall following the loan scam and we are yet to heal the wound. We are now concentrating on improving its financial health taking various measures. But those are apparently going in vain due to the huge amount of outstanding loans to the SoEs,” added the Sonali Bank official.
Echoing the same, a senior executive of Rupali Bank said that the liabilities of the SoEs have created huge burden for both the government and banks. “The government and banks cannot sustain their liabilities for a long time. It is also leaving an adverse impact on the economy,” he said.
He further said that the outstanding loans of the public enterprises are affecting both business and profit or loss account of his bank.
“A higher credit lying with the BPC for importing fuel oils has forced us to pile up the SoBs outstanding loans in our bank,” said an official of Janata Bank.
The outstanding loan of BPC with Janata Bank reached Tk 4,223 crore as on January 31 this year. It also owed Tk 2,381 crore to Agrani Bank, Tk 1,957 crore to Sonali Bank and Tk 774 crore to Rupali Bank.
The state-owned banks are reeling under deep trouble owing to a big chunk of outstanding loans disbursed to the public enterprises.
The outstanding loan amount of the State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) at Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali and BASIC Banks has reached Tk 28,800 crore as on January 31 this year, according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
Officials of the banks said, the loans have been disbursed to the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) as ‘spoon feeding’ following instruction from the Ministry of Finance.
The statistics shows that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) tops the list with Tk 9,338 crore outstanding loan followed by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Tk 7,108 crore, Bangladesh Chemical and Industries Corporation (BCIC) Tk 3,263 crore, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) Tk 1,745 crore, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporations (BJMC) Tk 1,157 crore and Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Tk 907 crore.
Sonali Bank, the country’s largest public bank, has Tk 14,000 crore outstanding loans lying with the SoEs, Janata Bank Tk 6,618 crore, Rupali Bank
Tk 3,812 crore, Agrani Bank Tk 3,333 crore and BASIC Bank Tk 1,039 crore, says the BB statistics.
“The outstanding loans of the SoEs remain a big problem for us as their debts have created a liquidity crisis in the banks, particularly the Sonali Bank,” a senior official of the bank told The New Nation on Friday, asking not to be named.
He said, Sonali Bank is holding the largest amount of outstanding loan of the SoEs and such a huge struck up fund is slowing the bank’s overall business.
Earlier, Hallmark Group and five other companies swindled Tk 3,547 crore from the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch through resorting to various means of forgery.
“The bank fell into capital shortfall following the loan scam and we are yet to heal the wound. We are now concentrating on improving its financial health taking various measures. But those are apparently going in vain due to the huge amount of outstanding loans to the SoEs,” added the Sonali Bank official.
Echoing the same, a senior executive of Rupali Bank said that the liabilities of the SoEs have created huge burden for both the government and banks. “The government and banks cannot sustain their liabilities for a long time. It is also leaving an adverse impact on the economy,” he said.
He further said that the outstanding loans of the public enterprises are affecting both business and profit or loss account of his bank.
“A higher credit lying with the BPC for importing fuel oils has forced us to pile up the SoBs outstanding loans in our bank,” said an official of Janata Bank.
The outstanding loan of BPC with Janata Bank reached Tk 4,223 crore as on January 31 this year. It also owed Tk 2,381 crore to Agrani Bank, Tk 1,957 crore to Sonali Bank and Tk 774 crore to Rupali Bank.
