The government has decided to prepare a guideline for 125 state-run corporations keeping a provision for them to give government 20% of their net profits.
The corporations can use the rest of the profit in productive sector as per the guideline to be formulated, said a senior finance division official.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petro-Bangla) are among the state-run corporations.
The move came after allegations that the state-run corporations were keeping the profit as fixed deposit receipt (FDR) in commercial banks, depriving the government of the revenue, he said.
Besides, the finance division has no knowledge about those fixed deposits.
The decision was made at a meeting held last week at the finance ministry auditorium, with Finance Secretary Fazle Kabir in the chair.
High officials from the state-run corporations also attended the meeting. The meeting sources said the guideline will include five possible terms for the corporations including the profit sharing.
Besides, the government can take money from the reserved portions in the form of loans through bonds.
It was also alleged that the state-run corporations didn’t disclose audited balance sheets and profit-loss accounts.
As per the meeting decision, the corporations will send audited balance sheets, income-expenditure and profit-loss accounts in the beginning of January every year.
If the corporations want to deposit profit to commercial banks, they will be required to inform finance division about the deposits and explain the reasons.
Meanwhile, the government has taken a number of reform initiatives to cut wastes of money by the corporations like BPC in line with the IMF conditions under Extended Credit Facility loan.
The government adopted an automated financial reporting software for the state-owned corporations and hired professional staff for financial management of BPC under the IMF conditions for Extended Credit Facility (ECF) loans.
A global firm will also be appointed to conduct, in association with a local company, financial audit of BPC for the fiscal year 2012-2013.
The audit, a new condition of International Monetary Fund for ECF loans, will be completed by September 2014.
The state-owned corporations are operated under 22 ministries and divisions.