The government has asked the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to pay the debt service liabilities (DSLs) as it soared to more than Tk 1.83 trillion at the end of the last fiscal year (FY 2022-23), according to official statistics.
The DSLs of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies comprise of the principal and interest amount, according to an official.
The finance division has recently requested the SoEs to pay the liabilities urgently within this month (February) as the development works are being hampered due to the nonpayment of the loans.
According to the finance division, the total DSLs rose to that extent until February 28 last year. The outstanding loans of 30 SoEs to the state-owned commercial banks stood at Tk 597.31 billion, including a classified loan of Tk 1.85 billion.
The SOEs registered a net profit of Tk 48.08 billion in the FY 2021-22. On the other hand, the SOEs that earned profit contributed Tk 8.78 billion to the national exchequer during the same period.
The debt-burden of these organisations included funds that the government has borrowed for them from the foreign development partners against projects and the local currency loans.
Sources at the DSL wing of the finance division said that it has taken measures to realise the outstanding loans but mostly fall flat and the dues are getting bloated.
They said individual organisations were contacted for loan recovery. "We want to streamline the official debt-repayment process as it puts the government in a difficult situation to manage the current expenditure," a senior official at the wing told the FE.
A large amount of loans pending with the SoEs has been causing problems for the government to strike a balance between the existing resources and current expenditures, and it has been facing difficulties to finance the development works, he added.
Sources said many new sectors in need of loans hardly get the same from the government since most SoEs are not making repayments as per the loan agreements.
The finance division has reckoned and readied the latest figures up to last June for disclosing the information during the presentation of the national budget by the finance minister in June next.
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