STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The total defaulted loans in the banking sector reached Tk 5.45 lakh crore at the end of last year, said Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury yesterday.

The amount is four times the total project cost of the Rooppur nuclear power plant, Bangladesh’s most expensive project.

In his response to a query from National Citizen Party MP Hasnat Abdullah, Khosru also provided a list of the top 20 loan defaulters, with nine of them being subsidiaries of the controversial Chattogram-based sprawling conglomerate S Alam Group.

The nine S Alam companies are S Alam Super Edible Oil, S Alam Vegetable Oil, S Alam Refined Sugar Industries, S Alam Cold Rolled Steels, Sonali Traders, Global Trading Corporation, Chemon Ispat, S Alam Trading Company, and Infinite CR Strips Industries.

The other defaulters in the list are Bangladesh Export Import Company (Beximco), Keya Cosmetics, Deshbandhu Sugar Mills, PowerPac Mutiara Keraniganj Power Plant, PowerPac Mutiara Jamalpur Power Plant, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom, Karnafuly Foods, Murad Enterprise, CLC Loans

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