Eight state firms had Tk 183cr default loans until Feb

Eight state-owned enterprises (SOEs) of Bangladesh had a combined default loan of Tk 183.62 crore in February, official figures showed.

At this time last year, the volume of default loans held by the SOEs was Tk 184.76 crore.

The latest figures were disclosed in the Bangladesh Economic Review 2024, which was released by the Ministry of Finance on June 6.

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Among the eight SOEs, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation defaulted on the highest amount of loans of Tk 131.3 crore. This is around nine times higher than the Tk 14.76 crore in 2020.

The second-highest bad loan of Tk 24.9 crore was with Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC). In 2019-2020, BTMC had a default loan of Tk 20.49 crore.

Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) had a bad loan of Tk 21.27 crore, the third highest.

Bangladesh Tea Board had a bad loan of Tk 4.62 crore, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation Tk 74 lakh, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Tk 57 lakh, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh Tk 20 lakh, and Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation Tk 2 lakh.

There are 49 state-owned non-financial enterprises in the country.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, suggested the government privatise SOEs to make them profitable.

"This is because it is not possible to turn them into profit-generating entities due to a lack of operational skills among management."

The government runs these enterprises by giving subsidies and repaying loans with money coming from taxpayers, he said.

Speaking to The Daily Star last week, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former adviser to a caretaker government, recommended ensuring accountability at the SOEs so that they can make profits while giving services to the people.