Bring govt’s bank debts under control

Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal recently said that the government had borrowed over Tk 13,27,624 crore from Bangladesh Bank and scheduled banks from January 2009 to December 2019. Within this period, it also paid back Tk 11,31,840 crore, meaning that the government’s net loan now stands at Tk 1,95,783 crore. By any standard, this is a huge amount and consequently a huge burden for us as Bangladesh aims to become a middle-income country by 2021. This massive loan comes as a further disadvantage for the banking sector as it is already in a volatile state. I think the government should take urgent steps to revitalise the banking sector and also explore all possible means of revenue generation so that it doesn’t have to depend too much on bank borrowing.

Md Mojammal Haque, Fatickchari, Chattogram