Classified loans fall by 5.0pc

The amount of classified loans in the country's banking system dropped by more than 5.0 per cent in December 2013 than the amount in December 2012, following relaxation of the loan rescheduling policy.

The volume of classified loans came down to Tk 405.83 billion in last December, which was 8.93 per cent of the total outstanding loans. It was Tk 427.25 billion a year ago, according to the central bank statistics.

On December 23, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) relaxed the loan rescheduling policy on a limited scale for the next six months to facilitate financing for the businesses, affected by political unrest.

Following the relaxation, the central bank allowed the banks to reschedule loans by fixing their down payment and time limit for repayment on bank-customer relationship.

The commercial banks were empowered to restructure their unclassified loans through re-fixing repayment schedule at a reasonable level.