The government borrowing from the scheduled banks increased to Tk 24,188.82 crore in the first eleven months and 12 days as the government is taking loan heavily at the last stage of its tenure to meet up its budgetary allocation, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
According to the latest BB data, the government borrowing from the scheduled banks stood at Tk 24,188.82 crore as of June 12, 2013, but the overall government borrowing from the banking source stood at Tk 16,730.57 crore in the period.
The government repaid the central bank Tk 7,458.25 crore as of June 12, pushing down its overall bank borrowing to Tk 16,730.57 crore in the period.
The government borrowed Tk 6,795.73 crore in 38 days of June and May of this year from the scheduled banks as the borrowing figure was Tk 17,393.09 crore as of May 5, 2013.
As of June 12, the overall government debt stood at Tk 1,08,396.36 crore from banking sources, showed the BB data.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the government had successfully contained the bank borrowing in the first 10 months of this financial year, but it had to borrow a significant amount of loan between May and June.
He said that the government borrowing might increase significantly in remaining days in June — the last month of this fiscal year.
The government is now trying to complete its budgetary pledges by taking loan from the banks, he said.
Moreover, 2013 is the final year of the current government’s tenure, so it will try to fulfil its election commitments at any cost to attract the voters, he said.
Under the circumstances, the government borrowing from the banking source will increase significantly in remaining months of the government’s tenure, he said.
Another BB official said the commercial banks would face difficulties in the coming days due to the government borrowing.
The banks will plunge in a liquidity crisis when the political situation eases, he said.
The country’s banking sector is now enjoying a balanced liquidity situation due to a lower credit demand from the private sector, he said.
The businesspeople has recently adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach due to the recent spates of political violence, he said.
The credit growth in the private sector declined 12.68 per cent in April on year-on-year basis due mainly to recent political unrest, said another BB official.
The operating and net profit of the banks may decrease this year as the loan disbursement to the client is one of the pivotal businesses for any bank, the official said.
The BB data showed that the scheduled banks invested Tk 25,306.84 crore in the government securities from July 1, 2012 to June 12, 2013 of which Tk 13,117.48 crore was invested in Treasury bills and Tk 12,189.36 crore in Treasury bonds.
-With New Age input
