Plan to cut classified loans to 10% for state banks

The government has planned to bring down the classified loans of six state-owned banks to 10 per cent from the existing 20.75 per cent by 2025.

The decision was recently taken at an evaluation meeting at the Finance Division under the Finance Ministry.

Bangladesh Bank has been making efforts for a long to reduce the volume of the classified loan—the credit that is sanctioned to a borrower in a fresh mode for a certain period of time and a certain amount.

The classified loans in the banking sector stood at over Tk 98,164,31 crore, accounting for 8.61 per cent of total outstanding loans as of June 30, according to the latest BB data.

During this period, the classified loans of six state-owned banks stood at more than Tk 43,835 crore, making up 20.75 per cent of the outstanding total loan, the data showed.

Sonali Bank Managing Director Ataur Rahaman told The Business Post that his bank would take tough measures to recover the defaulted loans. “The bank’s law department is working in this regard so that no loan defaulters can escape,” he said.

Sonali Bank recovered classified loans of Tk 10,397.88 crore against the target of Tk 10.40 lakh crore during the July-August period of the current fiscal year.

During the period, Janata Bank recovered the classified loans of Tk 11,000 crore against the target of over Tk 13, 772 crore.

Likewise, Agrani Bank recovered the classified loans of Tk 7,000 crore against the target of over Tk 5.7 lakh crore.

Rupali Bank recovered the classified loans of Tk 3,859 crore against the target of Tk 4,000 crore.

Basic Bank recovered the classified loans of Tk 7,000 crore against the target of Tk 7,968 crore.

Bangladesh Development Bank Limited recovered classified loans of over Tk 630 crore against the target of Tk 700 crore.