Monitoring of loan defaulters

Recently, the Finance Minister disclosed in the Jatiya Sangsad the names of the country's top 300 loan defaulters, and their unpaid loans that add up to Tk 509.42 billion. This is nearly 10 per cent of this year's budget. Two Padma Bridges could have been constructed with this amount.

It is welcome that the central bank is planning to monitor the loan defaulters who have taken loans of more than Tk 1.0 billion.

The size of non-performing loans (NPLs) is growing and this is an ominous sign for our economy. The central bank should go tough on chronic bank defaulters. But genuine businessmen should get some breathing space so that they can help the economy flourish in the long run.

Loan default culture is a plague for our society and we must get rid of it sooner than later. Strict punishment should be meted out to habitual defaulters so that we can see an end to the loan default culture in our country.

Nadim Javed

Tejgaon, Dhaka