Industrial Term Loan
SoB defaulted loan up by 94pc
Industrial term loan disbursement by the four state-owned commercial banks and four specialised banks posted a negative growth in the recently concluded financial year although their defaulted loan increased by 94.31 per cent in the period. BB officials told New Age on Tuesday that the state-owned banks (SoB) had sanctioned and disbursed a huge amount of term loans in the last few years considering the political background which pushed up the defaulted loan in the industrial sector.
The eight state-run banks are Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, Bangladesh Development Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, BASIC and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank.
According to the latest BB data, the term loan disbursement by the eight state-run banks registered a negative growth of 6.74 per cent in the FY13 compared with a 31.37 per cent growth in the FY12.
The eight banks disbursed Tk 7,179.25 crore in the FY13 compared with that of Tk 7,698.56 crore in the FY12. The eight banks disbursed Tk 5,859.78 crore in the FY11.
The defaulted term loan in the eight banks increased by 94.31 per cent in the FY13 compared with that of the FY12 when it increased by 2.45 per cent.
The BB data showed that the defaulted term loan in the eight banks stood at Tk 5,705.97 crore in the FY13 against Tk 2,936.50 crore in the FY12. The defaulted term loan in the eight banks was Tk 2,866.16 crore in the FY11.
A BB official said that the term loan usually played a significant role in increasing the industrial volume of the country as the banks sanctioned the loan to set the new industrial unit or expanding the existing industrial units.
The tenure of the term loan is at least one year and above.
The term loan situation of the eight banks in the last financial year indicated that the country’s real industrial sector is now facing a difficult condition as the banks posted a lower loan disbursement although their defaulted loan increased hugely, the official said.
The eight banks recovered significant amount of defaulted loan in the FY12, but their classified loan increased again in the last financial year, he said.
The BB data showed that the defaulted term loan in Sonali, Agrani, Rupali, BKB and RUKYB had decreased in the FY12 compared with that of the FY11.
The term loan in Sonali Bank decreased to Tk 796.17 crore in the FY12 from Tk 831.23 crore in the FY11, that of Agrani Bank to Tk 836.22 crore from Tk 898.74 crore, that of Rupali Bank to Tk 188.49 crore from Tk 253.14 crore, that of BKB to Tk 125.07 from Tk 225.19 crore, and that of RAKUB to Tk 86.51 crore from Tk 91.44 crore.
Another BB official said that the state-run banks had faced a number of financial scams in the last few years which increased the defaulted loan in the overall banking sector.
Some political influenced persons took a huge amount of loans from the eight state-run banks and they did not repay the loans to the banks, he said.
Under the circumstances, defaulted loan in the banking sector soared and the state-run banks faced liquidity crisis as they have to keep preserve provision against the classified loan, he said.
Besides, the banks have adopted a cautious policy to sanction the new loan in a bid to avoid the scams, he said.
For this reasons, the term loan disbursement by the eight banks decreased in the FY13, the official said.
‘But, such type of stance by the banks made a stagnant situation in the industrial sector. Moreover, new employment generation will halt in the coming years as the term loan usually uses to set new industrial unit. Besides, the lower term loan disbursement will also put a bad impact on the GDP growth’, he said.
-With New Age input
