Daily Bangla Times : 8 banks have failed to maintain the security reserve (provision) according to the loan standards including defaults. At the end of the last quarter of the recent outgoing year (October-December), the provision deficit of these banks stood at 19 thousand 46 crore 23 lakh taka.

Bangladesh Bank's latest report says that at the end of December 2022, four government banks, three private banks and one specialized bank have failed to keep provisions. The collective provision deficit of these eight banks exceeds 19 thousand 46 crores. Which was 19 thousand 833 crores at the end of its previous quarter (July-September). However, due to some banks saving additional provisions compared to the requirement, the deficit in the entire banking sector stood at 11 thousand 9 crores.

Among the four state-owned banks, Basic Bank has the largest deficit. In the fragile state of the bank, the provision deficit in June-December stood at Tk 4 thousand 535 crore 59 lakh. Next is Agrani Bank. The provision deficit of this bank is Tk 4 thousand 422 crore 15 lakh. In addition, Rupali Bank has a provision deficit of Tk 2,814 crore 61 lakh and Bangladesh Commerce Bank Tk 343 crore 72 lakh.

Among the 3 private banks are National Bank, Standard Bank and Mutual Trust Bank. The deficit of National Bank is 6 thousand 617 crore 71 lakh taka. Mutual Trust Bank's provision deficit is Tk 171 crore 16 lakh and Standard Bank's provision deficit is Tk 139 crore 47 lakh. Moreover, Bangladesh Agriculture Bank's provision deficit is Tk 3 crore 36 lakh.

At the end of the last quarter (July-December) of the recently departed year, the total amount of loans in the banking sector of the country stood at 14 lakh 77 thousand 779 crores. Out of these disbursed loans, 1 lakh 20 thousand 656 crores have turned into defaults. Which is 8.16 percent of the total loan disbursed. At the end of the quarter of December 2021, the amount of defaulted loans was 1 lakh 3 thousand 274 crores, 7.93 percent of the total loans. According to that, the defaulted loans in the banking sector have increased by 17 thousand 382 crores in the span of one year.