Four leading chamber bodies of the country on Wednesday called for clear identificaUon of willful default ers tn repayments of bank credits. This should be done once for all to stop "calculated move for wholesale maligning of the private sector and thwart the conspiracy in the growth of market economy", they said.

In a Joint statement, the chiefs of the chamber bodies said, the business community was looking forward to "seeing sound economic policies from the democratically elected government which will be free from manipulations by vested quarters In the administration.'

The signatories to the statement included F I M

Mohsin Bulbul, acting president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Syed Manzur Elahi. president. Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). Mahbubur Rahman. President. Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Amir Khasru Md. Chowdhury. President. Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

They demanded immediate formation of an "industrial commission" with quasi Judicial powers and induction of the representatives of the private sector in It to determine the causes of default and sickness of industries and recommend measures to help over-come the credit recovery problem. The recommendations of such a commission should be implemented on top priority, they suggested

The chamber chiefs noted that the merits of their sugges tion for setting up an Industrial commission would emerge very clearly if the overdue a were split up." This should be done to ascertain (1) how much of the total overdues related to the principal amount of loan and how much to the interest. (2) the impact of deterioration of Taka value vis a vis the currency in which the loan was funded, (3) what percentage of the original loan and interest has so far been repaid and (4) the peculiarities of industries like Jute, textiles, leather and many others which account for the bulk of the overdues. they said.

They reiterated their strong support for repayment of bank loans for this re-cycling and also in the interest of national economy. But. they stressed, a clear distinction must be made between the delinquent borrowers who siphoned off the borrowed money and others who invested the funds in approved projects but unable to repay in time due to everchanging prohibitive government .policies. fiscal measures and reasons beyond their control. In such cases, sectoral studies should be undertaken to find out the measures which will help the concerned industries generate fund and repay. they said.

They expressed their deep concern and disappointment at the recent publication of the list of defaulters by Bangladesh Bank in the national dailies. "We are at a loss to understand for whose benefit the list has been published. If the intention was to force twenty odd businessmen who have squandered the bank finance for their personal fortunes to re-

pay. then inclusion of 223 names tn the published Hat has certainly diluted the objective. Indeed. Bangladesh Bank's list has worked to protect them." nr chamber leaders observed. such protections to the delinquent borrowers were, in fact, not accidental. Most of their dues are to the nationalised banks which are under the control of the government and Bangladesh Bank.

Referring to the Central Bank Circular No 15. they observed that ft brought the banking system virtually to a standstill The circular requires that banking facilities must not be provided to the defaulters, their families etc. Banking and credit facilities are two different things. Denial of banking facilities surely cannot be the intention of the Government", they said.

The top functionaries of the chamber bodies said Bangladesh Bank, as an after thought. "Is reportedly asking the commercial banks unofficially to ignore some of the instructions in BCD (Banking Control Department) Circular No 15 to retrieve the situation. Such advice appears to be highly dangerous as the bankers, following the same, can land themselves into problems including imprisonment at a later date, they felt. They observed that band-customer relations should be the essence in all banking transactions.