The government would not re-finance anymore to the state-owned commercial banks to address their capital crunch, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said.
“There will be no more refinancing to the banks. The state-owned commercial banks will have to earn their money and pay taxes to the government. This is the final decision,” the minister said.
Finance Minister informed journalists after a meeting with the new top management of the four state-owned commercial banks-- Sonali Bank Ltd, Rupali Bank Ltd, Agrani Bank Ltd and Janata Bank Ltd at the NEC 2 in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area in the capital.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Finance Division Secretary Abdur Rauf Talukdar and Financial Institution Division Secretary M Ashadul Islam were present among others.
The Finance Minister said these four banks have been given some time to submit their work plan before him and they would sit again on next Sunday to further discuss on the submitted work plans.
Mentioning that the new top managements of these four banks are clearly very much skilled and if they could run their banks with their acquired knowledge and experiences considering the local and global context, then the country could expect much better in the coming years.
He said that the role and performance of these four banks is also important as these comprise around 25 percent of the country’s banking sector.
Answering to a question, Kamal said he had suggested these banks to pay attention so that the NPL is not increased further, these banks would have to continue efforts to make 15 percent profit per year, to utilize their resources properly and keeping due security before providing loans.