Rejaul Karim Byron

The amount of default loans increased by Tk 2,645 crore or 11.68 percent in public, private and foreign commercial banks in the first quarter of 2012.

Officials said a sluggish trend in business was the main reason behind the rise in such loans.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics, banks had default loans worth Tk 25,298 crore or 6.57 percent of their outstanding loans on March 30, up from Tk 22,644 crore or 6.12 percent on December 31, 2011.

Of the total default loans, the amount in four state-owned commercial banks went up by Tk 950 crore or 10.35 percent.

Such loans in 30 private banks increased by Tk 1,576 crore or 21.88 percent during the period.

Nine foreign banks registered a rise of Tk 88 crore or 14.05 percent in their default loans.

Though the default loans of foreign banks rose in percentage, the amount was low -- Tk 717 crore -- at the end of March, which was Tk 626 crore at the end of December.

Default loans of five specialised banks increased by 0.53 percent or Tk 30 crore.

A central bank official said, usually the amount of default loans marks a rise in the first quarter.

The official said the banks take a big move in December to recover default loans but the efforts slow down after the year-end. As a result, the amount of default loans goes up in the first quarter of a fiscal year, he added.

A high official of National Credit and Commerce Bank Ltd agreed with the observation of the BB official and said businesses, especially the export sector, have been going through a sluggish period.

As a result, the recovery rate is low,

he said.