State banks cheer as SoEs'outstanding loans fall slightly

The outstanding and classified loans of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to the public sector banks declined slightly in July compared to June, officials have said.

At the end of July, the SoEs owed Tk 163. 32 billion in loans to the state-owned commercial banks. In June, that figure was Tk 164.38 billion.

The amount of classified loans dropped to Tk 641.5 million in July from Tk 68.74 million in June.

Some 12 SoEs owe these amounts to five SoCBs: Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, and BASIC Bank.The central bank has recently updated the finance ministry about the conditions of SoEs' outstanding and classified loans.

The data showed that the SoEs have the highest loans to Sonali Bank amounting to Tk 119 billion, followed by Janata Bank's Tk 26.05 billion and Rupali Bank's Tk 13.32 billion. They also owed Tk 5.48 billion to Agrani Bank and Tk 499 million to BASIC Bank.The Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation tops the list with Tk 66.10 billion, national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines Tk 54.76 billion, and Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) Tk 18.98 billion.

The Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation owed Tk 9.84 billion, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation Tk 932 billion, and the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh owed Tk 3.12 billion to the public sector banks.

A senior finance division official told the FE most of these SoEs are loss-making concerns and have been draining public money year after year as their management indulges in corruption.

He said the government is forced to pay money from the exchequer regularly to keep them afloat.

Recently, the government has closed down jute mills, run by the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, after paying subsidies almost every year since the independence.

"The government needs to take decisions on other loss-making concerns to stop their further bleeding," said the official.

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