Default loans have hit a record high of nearly Tk 886 billion.
According to the latest figures by Bangladesh Bank, bad debts in banks have stood at Tk 885.89 billion until March this year, up from Tk 743.03 billion in December last year.
Default loans significantly dropped in late last year as banks had rescheduled a large amount of loans as well stepped up recovery efforts.
Analysts attributed the drop in default loans in late last year to the banks’ ‘strategies’, which include rescheduling and propping up recovery, ahead of the annual audit report in December.
But as the new year starts the process slowed down due to the double-digit lending rate.
Former caretaker government adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam blamed lack of governance in the financial sector behind the rise in default loans.
“Not only the rescheduled and restructured loans, but others loans have also turned into bad debts. The rate of defaulted loans is alarming in the state-owned as well as private banks” he told Bangla Tribune.
Period | Total disbursed loan | Defaulted loan |
Until March 2018 | Tk 8,221.37 billion | Tk 885.89 billion |
Until December 2017 | Tk 8,444 billion | Tk 743.03 billion |
Central bank data says, around 10.88 percent of the disbursed loans have turned out to be bad debts as of March this year, up from 9.31 percent in December last year.
In three months (Dec-Mar), defaulted loans have increased by Tk 142.86 billion, with private commercial banks accounting for Tk 78.93 billion.
The amount of defaulted loans in the six state-owned banks during the same period stood at Tk 63.59 billion and for the nine foreign banks, Tk 340 million.
