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Default loans on the rise

Rejaul Karim Byron
Default loans continue to spiral, with the second quarter of the year seeing the amount rise by 14.6 percent or Tk 3,711 crore from the previous quarter.
Compared to last year's second quarter -- which saw the default loans increase by 2.66 percent, orTk 643 crore -- the latest rise becomes all the more worrying.
On June 30, banks recorded default loans at Tk 29,000 crore of their outstanding loans, up from Tk 25,298 crore on March 30, according to central bank data.
Bangladesh Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled said the rise in interest rates in recent times has been excessive.
“What used to be 11 percent to 12 percent is now 14 percent to 15 percent, and in some banks it is 16 percent,” said Khaled.
Due to the high rate, many could not get their Ioans serviced, Khaled said, adding that the depressed state of the economy may have had an impact on banks' loan management.
Khaled, also a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, said the credit management is much worse in state-owned banks.
He called for increased monitoring from both the central bank and the banks.
Nazrul Huda, another former deputy governor of the BB, said the loan situation tends to pick up after the June and December closings, but this time, worryingly, it has been the opposite.
Huda cited the global economic crisis finally catching up with Bangladesh as one of the reasons for the rise in default loans.
Particularly, he feels the slowdown in business of exporters, banks' major borrowers, owing to the global recession have increased the percentage in default loans. “In recent times some macroeconomic indicators have been showing improvement. So, hopefully, by the end of this year, the default loan situation, too, will take a turn for the better,” Huda said.
He asked the banks to step up loan disciplining as the default loans are likely to increase by 30 percent to 35 percent under the new guidelines for loan classifications which take effect next quarter even if the loan situation remains the same.
“The central bank will also have to intensify its supervisions.”
A high official of the central bank, however, said they were fully alert.
With regards to the Hallmark Group-Sonali Bank scandal, the official said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will shortly take action against the culprits.
The official also said the central bank would promptly refer any irregularities to the ACC for stern action against the people involved.
In June, the state banks' portfolio of default loans rose by 16.32 percent, orTk 1,652 crore, from March, according to the central bank data.
As for private banks, it increased by Tk 1,527 crore, or 17.39 percent, while specialised and foreign banks' stood at Tk 525 crore or, 9.25 percent and Tk 18 crore or 2.52 percent respectively.