As of December 2024, loan write-offs in Bangladesh’s banking sector reached Tk 81,578 crore, marking a significant rise from Tk 71,817 crore in December 2023. This increase of Tk 9,761 crore reflects a growing reliance on write-offs to hide non-performing loans (NPLs), with 54 out of 61 banks engaging in this practice over the past 21 years. Write-offs, primarily employed when banks lose hope of recovering bad loans, allow these loans to be removed from balance sheets but do not eliminate the liability. State-owned banks accounted for Tk 25,832 crore of the total write-offs, with Sonali Bank alone contributing Tk 8,568 crore. Private banks, such as Southeast Bank and UCB, followed with Tk 3,664 crore and Tk 3,197 crore, respectively. Experts warn that this growing trend masks the true scale of loan defaults, with the actual default figure potentially exceeding Tk 7 lakh crore when including these write-offs.
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