Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal did not mince his words: “Defaulting loan is a crime. Not just for you, for the whole country.”
As of December 2018, Bangladesh’s non-performing loans were around Tk100,000 crore -- the highest it has ever been in Bangladesh’s history.
Bad debts have plagued Bangladesh for a long time, and have no doubt come about as a result of corruption and a lack of accountability within our banking sector.
What is worse is that around half of these defaulting loans belong to five state-owned banks, which are essentially stealing money out of the public coffers.
This should come as no surprise, considering the disastrously ineffective management under which so many of our SOBs function, with nepotism and corruption ruling the ranks.
This is why the finance minister should be provided the necessary support required in his attempt to take action against dishonest banking practices -- if not, the increasing number and amount of bad loans could bring the nation to its knees.
Banks are the bedrock of any economy, and our inability to rein in loan defaulters and dishonest bankers who enable this culture are the Achilles Heel of our developing nation, and could very well derail our journey towards meeting our economic goals.
We appreciate the finance minister’s dedication towards reinstating better banking practices in the sector, and urge the highest levels of government to provide him with the resources required in his endeavour.
The public should not keep having to pay the price for this failure of the banking system.
