After a five-month pause, dollar rates have started to rise, prompting the central bank to question the managing directors of 13 banks about the fresh volatility of the greenback.
BB issued letters on Dec 19 and the deadline for explanation ends today
As much as 89.3 percent of the credit extended by First Security Islami Bank, when controlled by the major Awami League beneficiary S Alam Group, to AL-affiliated Sikder Group by violating banking rules and regulations has become defaulted.
Problem-ridden Padma Bank has applied to the Bangladesh Bank for Tk 1,300 crore in liquidity support to mitigate its crisis and strengthen its ability to repay depositors.
Defaulted loans at six private commercial banks nearly tripled in one year till September 2024, according to central bank data, which bankers term “alarming”.
State-run Janata Bank has been partly exempted from the Bank Companies Act-1991 so that it can lend money to Beximco Group, a loan defaulter.
Consumer financing has slowed as people are adopting a go-slow strategy for taking loans, considering the increasing trend of interest rates amid ongoing inflationary pressure.
Motijheel is losing its historic lustre as Dhaka’s commercial hub, with Gulshan, among the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the capital, stealing its thunder.
The deficit in the financial account stood at $9.25 billion in July-March of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh Bank data showed. It was $2.92 billion in the first nine months of the previous fiscal year and $8.46 billion in July-February of 2023-24.
The interest rates on consumer loans, forced loans and overdue loans are likely to go up rapidly in the upcoming months, however.
The FID later backtracked following criticism from different quarters, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), about the formation of a public corporation since state enterprises have usually underperformed in the country.
BASIC Bank is experiencing a deep liquidity crunch as depositors have been withdrawing money for weeks following news that the state-run lender is going to be acquired by a private commercial bank.
The Sikder family has apparently lost its grip on National Bank Ltd as Bangladesh Bank has appointed a new board for the country’s first private bank.
In July last year, the central bank withdrew the 9 percent lending rate cap and introduced the Six-months Moving Average Rate of Treasury bills (SMART).
Amid persistently higher inflation in Bangladesh for more than a year, the low- and middle-income groups are struggling to meet their daily expenses.
From last July to April 22 this year, government loans from commercial banks amounted to Tk 65,432 crore, according to Bangladesh Bank. In the same 10 months or so of fiscal year 2022-23, it was only Tk 5,334 crore.
In fact, the reactions of the associated bankers and directors, circumstances centring the meetings where the decisions were taken alongside protests in one case confirmed that these had been decided by the government and relayed through the central bank.
A recent rush to withdraw money from the BASIC Bank and National Bank is worsening the situation the troubled institutions are facing.
