Five banks held over 54 per cent of the total non-performing loans in the country鈥檚 banking sector as of June, exposing deep vulnerabilities in the sector.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, National Bank, Sonali Bank and Rupali Bank collectively carried Tk 1,14,211 crore in defaulted loans as of June out of the total Tk 2,11,391 crore NPLs.
The amount of total defaulted loans in the banking sector was Tk 1,82,295 crore in March.
Janata Bank, crippled by scams, topped the list with its NPLs rising to Tk 48,000 crore as of June, representing a staggering 52.55 per cent of its total loan disbursements.
Agrani Bank followed with Tk 21,324 crore, National Bank with Tk 20,929 crore, Sonali Bank with Tk聽13,495 crore and Rupali Bank with Tk 10,463 crore, which were accounted for 30.6 per cent, 49 per cent, 14.81 per cent and 23 per cent of their total loan disbursements, respectively.
The situation not only painted a grim picture of these banks鈥� financial health, but also placed depositors in a highly precarious position, experts said.
NPLs in the top 10 banks reached Tk 1,48,623 crore in June, accounting for over 70 per cent of the sector鈥檚 total toxic loans.
Beyond the top five, AB Bank recorded Tk 9,795 crore in NPLs, followed by BASIC Bank with Tk 8,256 crore, Islami Bank Bangladesh with Tk 7,724 crore, Padma Bank with Tk 4,881 crore and IFIC Bank with Tk 3,756 crore.
Non-performing loans in six state-owned banks 鈥� Janata, Agrani, Sonali, Rupali, BASIC and BDBL 鈥� crossed the Tk 1 lakh crore mark for the first time in June, rising from Tk 85,870 crore in March.
These six banks collectively held more than 50 per cent of the total NPLs in the banking sector.
Since the Awami League-led government assumed power in 2009, NPLs in Bangladesh have skyrocketed.
From just Tk 22,240 crore in June 2009, the amount of defaulted loans ballooned to a staggering Tk聽2,11,391 crore by June 2024 鈥� a nearly tenfold increase in just 15 years.
The newly appointed Bangladesh Bank governor, Ahsan H Mansur, has begun revealing the true extent of the crisis, after years of borrowers, banks and the Bangladesh Bank colluding to mask the scale of the problem.
Rescheduling loans and data manipulation were used to artificially reduce the reported NPL figures, but the reality is now surfacing under the new leadership.
Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, the interim government appointed Mansur as the central bank governor, replacing Abdur Rouf Talukder, under whose leadership the NPL crisis deepened.
