The amount of classified loans in the country's banking system marked a gradual rise throughout this calendar year and reached Tk 567.20 billion in the third quarter (July-Sept), which is nearly 13 per cent of the total outstanding loans.
Senior bankers attributed the rise in default loans mainly to sluggish business activities amid the ongoing political turmoil.
The volume of classified loans marked a rise of more than 8.0 per cent or Tk 44.10 billion in the July-September period of 2013 over that of the previous quarter.
It was Tk 523.09 billion in the second quarter (April-June), and Tk 510.20 billion in the first quarter (Jan-March), according to the central bank statistics.
During the third quarter, the share of non-performing loans (NPL) in the total outstanding loans of the banking system increased by 0.88 percentage point.
The share of the classified loans rose to 12.79 per cent in the period under review, from 11.91 per cent in the previous quarter.
"The amount of default loans has increased in the third quarter of this calendar year because of political uncertainty centring the next general election," Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director and chief executive officer of Pubali Bank Limited, told the FE Thursday.
A good number of borrowers cannot repay loans timely mainly due to the slowdown in their business activities amid the ongoing political instability, he explained.
“We expect that the volume of default loans will decrease by the end of this calendar year, if the country’s business activities remain unhurt,†S K Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), told the FE.
He also said the central bank is now planning to introduce a special monitoring drive for the banks, having significant amount of NPL.
Under the new move, the banks will have to submit their classified loan statement on monthly basis instead of the existing quarterly basis, the BB deputy governor added.
During the period (July-Sept 2013), the total amount of default loans with the four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) rose to Tk 241.74 billion from Tk 238.53 billion.
On the other hand, the total amount of classified loans with 37 private commercial banks (PCBs) reached Tk 223.08 billion from Tk 196.11 billion.
The classified loans of nine foreign commercial banks (FCBs) stood at Tk 14.54 billion in September 2013 against Tk 10.89 billion in June this year.
The default loans with five development finance institutions (DFIs) rose to Tk 87.84 billion in the third quarter from Tk 77.56 billion.
Banks\\\' classified loans reach Tk 567.2b in Q3
Siddique Islam | Published: November 08, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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