Non-performing loans (NPL) kept ballooned nearly 18.2% to over Tk156,000 crore at the end of June this calendar year.
According to Bangladesh Bank data released on Sunday, default loans soared to Tk156,039 crore at the end of June 2023 from Tk131,620 crore in March, and Tk120,656 crore at the end of December 2022.
This was the highest NPL in the country's history with the previous high of Tk134,396 crore recorded in the third quarter of last year.
In the three months to June this year, Tk24,419 crore loans turned sour alone.
It also represents a substantial increase from Tk103,273 crore in December 2021 and Tk88,734 crore in December 2020.
They said that the actual size of the stress assets in banks would be much higher than the NPL amount if the volumes of loan rescheduling and write-off are taken into account.
The Bangladesh Bank sources said the overall NPL rose to 10.11% of the total outstanding loans that stood at Tk154,200 crore as of June last.
With this latest surge, the overall ratio of non-performing loans or classified loans stood at 10.11% - 1.31 percentage points higher than the March period.
In terms of the category of banks, the volume of classified loans in the state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) usually remained high in total outstanding.
The distressed assets in the banking industry stood at Tk377,922 crore in 2022, according to BB's Financial Stability Report 2022.
Distressed assets are calculated considering the total NPLs, outstanding rescheduled and write-off loans.
