SoEs\\\' outstanding loans with SoBs now Tk 91b

The outstanding debt liabilities of state owned enterprises (SoEs) to five state-owned commercial banks (SoBs)  stood at Tk 91.109 billion with a slight decline in January compared to December last, statistics shows.
In January this year, the outstanding debt declined by Tk 1.516 billion. Besides, the classified loan at the same time stood at Tk 1.625 billion.
A senior finance ministry official told the FE that the SoBs had been instructed to realise the loans by giving the job utmost preference.
"But since many of the SoEs incur losses year after year, they fail to repay the loan on time and the money remains stuck with them," he said.
During the month, the SoEs' outstanding debt to Sonali Bank declined by Tk 2.052 billion, to Rupali Bank declined by Tk 200 million, and to Basic Bank dropped by Tk 466 million. On the other hand, their outstanding debt to Janata Bank increased by Tk 1.178 billion, and to Agrani Bank by 27.4 million.
Figures show that Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) has Tk 1.27 billion in outstanding fund liabilities to the state banks, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) has Tk 6.35 billion, Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) has Tk 833 million, Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) Tk 28.31 billion, and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) Tk 24.34 billion.
The state owned electricity, gas and water service providers have outstanding loans worth Tk 6.60 million, transportation and communications sector organisations have Tk 195.60 million, commercial organisations Tk 10 billion, agriculture and fisheries sector organisations Tk 19.61 billion, and service sector organisations have Tk 140 million in outstanding loans.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) recently completed the update on the outstanding and classified loans of the SoEs with the state banks, and informed the banks and Financial Institutions Division of the ministry of finance (MoF) about it.
The central bank has been giving regular instructions to the high-ups of the banks concerned to downsize their amount of outstanding and default loans, a senior official of the BB told the FE.
"We are trying to help reduce the outstanding and classified loans of the SoEs through various steps. The banks have been asked to consult the SoEs, so that they can make timely repayment of the loans," he said.
Another senior official at the MoF earlier told the FE that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had set conditions not to ask the state-owned commercial banks to sanction fresh loans in favour of the loss-making SoEs. The MoF is no longer going to request the banks for fresh loans to the SoEs, fearing a further rise in the amount of default and outstanding loans, he said.
"The SoEs have to grow or downsize themselves. There will be a full-stop to the culture of spoon-feeding in the near future as the government cannot afford to cope with a huge amount of their losses amid a large sum of bank liabilities of the SoEs," he added.