BASIC reels under bad debt

The state-owned BASIC Bank, under fire over financial irregularities, has an unrecoverable amount of debts that have increased nearly 30 times over the past four and a half years, reports bdnews24.com.
It currently has a capital deficit of over Tk 6.58 billion.
Information provided by the finance ministry at the meeting of a parliamentary standing committee on government institutions Thursday showed the specialised bank had bad debts to the tune of Tk 1.41 billion at the end of 2009.
The amount swelled to Tk 41.57 billion by June this year.
In 2009, the bank loaned out Tk 4.56 billion of its total capital to nine institutions. Of them, 4.83 per cent turned out to be bad loans. At present the percentage stands at 36.55.
The amount of disbursed loan went up consistently after 2009.
Eight institutions were given Tk 4.98 billion in loans in 2010, while Tk 8.81 billion was given to 12 institutions as loans in 2011.
Tk 19.65 billion was loaned to 23 institutions in 2012 and last year, 20 institutions got Tk 23.05 billion in loans from the bank.
The committee has held the bank's board responsible for the irregularities and recommended legal actions.
After Thursday's meeting, committee chief Shawkat Ali said preliminary investigation showed that the board members and officials were partners in crime as far as the financial irregularities were concerned.
"We are waiting to see what the new board of directors does," Ali said.
"If their steps are not proper, then this committee will investigate the matter and make necessary recommendations," he said.