Anarchy will not stop unless strong decision is taken

Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed

Staff Correspondent: Former governor of Bangladesh Bank and eminent economist Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said that there is no initiative to catch willful defaulters in the budget. However, I expected the finance minister to say in his budget speech, “No more concessions will be given to defaulters.”
They will be caught with a strong hand this time. If the loan is not returned, all their facilities will be stopped.
He also said that the main problem in the banking sector now is the lack of good governance. Due to this, there are various irregularities including forgery. All the loans that are given due to irregularities are turning into defaults.
Bad loans have now become the ‘role model’ of business for some traders. Now is a tough time for banks. If a firm decision is not taken at this time, the anarchy of the banking sector will not stop.
Former Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) and former President of the Economic Association Professor Dr. Mainul Islam said that the account of defaulted loans published by Bangladesh Bank is not real information. Defaulted loans are more than that. The defaulted loan pending in the cases of money loan court, high court, supreme court cannot be included in justified loan. Tk 65 thousand crores of debt has been waived. These are bad loans older than five years, but they are not included in defaulted loans. If you add these two, the defaulted loans will exceed Tk 5 lakh crore.
This economist advised to be strict against the willful defaulters and said, if the government is not strict against the defaulters and does not arrange for recovery of defaulted loans through a special tribunal, then this problem will not be solved. Rather, the problem will become more pronounced.