Outstanding debt of SoEs swells in May

FT ONLINE

The outstanding loans of government firms to state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) increased in May by Tk 2.42 billion over the previous month, statistics show.

With the increase, the total outstanding debt liabilities of the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to five SoCBs reached Tk 105.99 billion.

Besides, the classified loans of the SoEs in May, amounted to Tk 3.61 billion.

Central bank statistics show that in May the outstanding loans of SoEs to Sonali Bank alone increased by Tk 2.27 billion.

The outstanding loans to Rupali Bank increased by Tk 705 million, and those to Agrani Bank rose by Tk 29 million.

However, the SoEs' outstanding loans to BASIC Bank decreased by Tk 585 million.

The Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) tops the list of the outstanding loans to the SoCBs.

The corporation has Tk 52.74 billion in outstanding loans.

The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) has Tk 21.54 billion outstanding loans, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) Tk 17.41 billion, and Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) has Tk 8.45 billlion.

Besides, Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) has Tk 4.66 billion outstanding loans while the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has Tk 536 million.

The outstanding loans of SoEs in May stood at Tk 70.55 billion in Sonali Bank, Tk 20.98 billion in Janata Bank, Tk 2.10 billion in Agrani Bank, Tk 10.63 billion in Rupali Bank, and Tk 1.69 billion in BASIC Bank.

The BSFIC topped as defaulter with Tk 2.65 billion classified loan, followed by the BJMC's Tk 411 million, BADC's Tk 212 million and BTMC's Tk 204 million.

Officials at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said many of the SoEs fail to repay loans to the SoCBs as they continue to incur losses.

Some also procrastinate deliberately to repay the debts, they said.

A senior official of a commercial bank said the high-ups of both the SoEs and the private sector people are somehow convinced that they would not face any difficulties if they do not repay the loans of SoCBs.

"So, despite continuous persuasion, they hardly pay attention to repaying loans," the official said, preferring anonymity.

The central bank has been instructing the high-ups of the SoCBs regularly to downsize their amount of outstanding and default loans, a senior official of Bangladesh Bank had said earlier.

"We are trying to help reduce the outstanding and classified loans of the SoEs through various steps," he said.

"The banks have been asked to consult the SoEs for ensuring timely repayment of loans."