There are more that 300,000 loan defaulters in various banks and financial institutions across Bangladesh, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said.
As of October 2020, there were 334,982 loan defaulters across the country, he said in response to a question at parliament on Monday, according to media reports.
In response to another question, the finance minister said of the revenue collection target of 2020-21 fiscal year, which is Tk330,000 crore, the government has collected Tk108,471 crore as of December 2020.
However, the amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) has gone down by Tk17,737 crore, the finance minister told parliament.
As of September 2020, the amount outstanding loans stand at Tk94,440.47 crore, per Bangladesh Bank data, he added.
Kamal said the drop in NPL amount was the result of the central bank relaxing several policies on loan classifications, according to media reports.
The Bangladesh Bank offered a relaxed rescheduling facility to loan defaulters in 2019, allowing them to regularize NPLs by giving 2% down payment, which decreased classified loans in banks.
In addition, a loan moratorium was imposed for 2020 to aid the economy in face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kamal said.
In response to another question in parliament, the finance minister said they had received allegations of money laundering through under- and overevaluation.
The matter is being investigated, and legal action will be taken as required, he added.
