Non-Performing Loans Plague the Country’s Financial Sector, 100 Individuals Owe the Equivalent of Three Padma Bridges

The country’s financial sector is currently suffering from a severe “cancer” of non-performing loans (NPLs). As of March this year, various banks and non-bank financial institutions are owed a total of BDT 1,08,001.32 crore by the top 100 defaulters alone, which constitutes 26% of the total outstanding NPLs. Among these massive sums, 62 companies are fully defaulted, meaning their entire loan amount is unrecoverable or classified as bad debt. A large portion of this debt is owed to state-owned banks. According to sources, this amount of money could have been used to build three Padma Bridges.