The government will issue special bonds worth Tk59.34bn within a couple of days to facilitate state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to repay its loans from three state-owned banks , said a senior official.
For the first time, BPC will pay the interest of the bonds at a rate of 7% in 7-10 years against three types of bonds to be issued from Bangladesh Bank.
According to a senior BPC official, the BPC’s total debt to banks rose to around Tk117bn in the last two and a half years.
“Through issuance of the special bonds, BPC’s subsidy-based loans taken from the state-owned commercial banks – Sonali, Janata and Agrani – will be settled for the FY13,” said a senior official of the finance division.
He said: “BPC is an important entity of the government and given this fact, the finance minister recently ordered the authorities concerned to clear all dues of BPC. After that, the decision to issue bonds has been taken.”
As per the proposal, Sonali bank’s BPC loan is amounted to Tk25bn which will announce three types of bonds of seven, eight and 10-year tenure with 7% interest. Janata and Agrani banks’ loans are amounted to Tk16bn and Tk18bn respectively. The loans will be convert into bonds with same duration and interest.
In the outgoing fiscal year, the government allocated BPC a subsidy of Tk133bn to cover their losses.
A letter issued by the finance division to BPC specified that BPC would need to immediately pay Tk10.74bn dues to the National Board of Revenue once the third installment of subsidy is available.
Currently, the finance ministry lends money to the BPC on a quarterly basis to help it pay fuel import bills. The ministry sanctioned the loan at an interest rate of 5% for the next 15 years, said the official.
BPC chairman Md Eunusur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the state–run company will get more fund from the three state owned banks as loan to smooth operation of the organisation.
It is good for the BPC as the government has cleared all dues of the organization, he pointed out.
Last Monday, an amount of Tk18bn was given to pay off the due bills of fuel oil imported in the last quarter of the current fiscal. With this amount, the total financial support to BPC by the government will stand at around Tk80bn.
