Debt-ridden public sector bodies pay peanuts to govt
FE Report | Saturday, 14 March 2009
Some 47 state agencies and autonomous bodies will spend Tk 12.97 billion for servicing their debts by the end of the current fiscal.
The relevant agencies have already paid more than Tk 5.0 billion as their outstanding debt service liability (DSL) to the government over the last seven months of the current fiscal, official sources said.
Both the commitment and settlement of debts by the concerned agencies are the result of the finance ministry's ongoing drive to streamline the DSL payment systems, a senior official told the FE.
The DSL wing under the Ministry of Finance earlier initiated the process of realising the official debts from the agencies concerned.
Under the initiative, the DSL wing has already established a database on the official DSL, officials said.
Referring to figures, they said some 54 state agencies, semi-government, autonomous and local government bodies have a total debt of over Tk 485.94 billion.
Taking their poor DSL payment performance into account, the authorities recently held meetings with all the defaulting agencies to set their debt repayment criteria, said an official.
The Power Development Board, Petrobangla, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Rural Electrification Board (REB), Bangladesh Bridge Authority, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS) are among the top DSL defaulters, officials said.
Earlier, the DSL wing had served letters to all the relevant agencies, asking them to repay their debts.
The government wants to realise large amount of debts from the agencies concerned as non-payment of such dues has put the government in a difficult situation to manage its current expenditure, said the official.
The official further said most of the government agencies continued to perform poorly in payment of their outstanding DSL, despite repeated official efforts to streamline the payment system.
Another source said such debt recovery dive came in line with the government's ongoing efforts to boost its resources, especially from the internal sources.
The relevant agencies have already paid more than Tk 5.0 billion as their outstanding debt service liability (DSL) to the government over the last seven months of the current fiscal, official sources said.
Both the commitment and settlement of debts by the concerned agencies are the result of the finance ministry's ongoing drive to streamline the DSL payment systems, a senior official told the FE.
The DSL wing under the Ministry of Finance earlier initiated the process of realising the official debts from the agencies concerned.
Under the initiative, the DSL wing has already established a database on the official DSL, officials said.
Referring to figures, they said some 54 state agencies, semi-government, autonomous and local government bodies have a total debt of over Tk 485.94 billion.
Taking their poor DSL payment performance into account, the authorities recently held meetings with all the defaulting agencies to set their debt repayment criteria, said an official.
The Power Development Board, Petrobangla, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Rural Electrification Board (REB), Bangladesh Bridge Authority, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS) are among the top DSL defaulters, officials said.
Earlier, the DSL wing had served letters to all the relevant agencies, asking them to repay their debts.
The government wants to realise large amount of debts from the agencies concerned as non-payment of such dues has put the government in a difficult situation to manage its current expenditure, said the official.
The official further said most of the government agencies continued to perform poorly in payment of their outstanding DSL, despite repeated official efforts to streamline the payment system.
Another source said such debt recovery dive came in line with the government's ongoing efforts to boost its resources, especially from the internal sources.