20 banks inflicted with defaulted loans

 
The sum of defaulted loans in banks and financial institutions is increasing by leaps and bounds. Defaulted loans amounted to 1 lakh 25 thousand 257 crore taka at the end of June 2022, according to official figures. Twenty banks are inflicted with the largest portion of these defaulted loans which include 5 state-owned banks and 15 private banks.

Nevertheless, unofficial sources have informed that defaulted loans in Bangladesh have crossed 2 trillion taka including written off debts.

Bangladesh Bank's updated information shows that 75% of defaulted loans lie with these 20 banks. The rest 25% defaulted loans are in another 41 banks. These twenty banks are bearing defaulted loans of 93 thousand 501 crore taka.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB), the highest amount of defaulted loans is in Janata Bank. This bank is affected with defaulted loans of 17 thousand 263 crore taka at the end of June 2022. Agrani Bank's defaulted loans rose to 10 thousand 558 crore taka at the end of June 2022. Rupali Bank's defaulted loans amounted to 6 thousand 466 crore taka at the end of June 2022. Sonali Bank's defaulted loans reached 12 thousand 126 crore taka and Basic Bank's defaulted loans turned out to be 8 thousand 249 crore taka at the end of June 2022.

Among private banks, National Bank is suffering most from defaulted loans. This bank is bogged down with defaulted loans of 9 thousand 394 crore taka till June 2022. One Bank's defaulted loans reached 2 thousand 793 crore taka at the end of June 2022. Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited's defaulted loans amounted to 4 thousand 511 crore taka. IFIC Bank's defaulted loans reached 2 thousand 327 crore taka till June 2022. Pubali Bank's defaulted loans reached 1 thousand 572 crore taka till June 2022.

Defaulted loans in some other private banks till June 2022 are as follows: UCB Bank-2 thousand 53 crore taka; NRBC Bank- 600 crore taka; Al Arafah Islami Bank-1 thousand 988 crore taka; AB Bank-4 thousand 346 crore taka; Uttara Bank-1 thousand 322 crore taka; Padma Bank-3 thousand 950 crore taka; Trust Bank-1 thousand 182 crore taka; NCC Bank-936 crore taka; Shahjalal Islami Bank-962 crore taka.

Bangladesh Bank's former Governor Dr. Saleh Uddin Ahmed said that some wrong decisions of the central bank are responsible for the rising sums of defaulted loans in the country.

Former adviser to caretaker government Dr. Wahid Uddin Mahmud said, "The authorities concerned should work hard to constitute good governance and accountability in the banking sector. At the same time it is essential to keep banks away from political influence."

President of Bangladesh Economics Association Professor Dr. Abul Barkat said, "The central bank and other regulatory institutions should carry out firm and uncompromising drive to recover defaulted loans to sustain the country's banking sector."

Professor Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University said, "Bangladesh's banking sector has gone into the clutches of financial perpetrators. Some of them are so powerful that the regulators cannot take any action against them."

Dr. Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of World Bank, Dhaka Office said, "The regulatory authorities should not compromise with any bank or financial institution in case of graft and anomalies."