Govt borrows Tk 79,000cr from commercial banks

Economic Desk

In the current fiscal year (2024-25), the government’s borrowing from commercial banks has increased. According to an estimate from July 1 to February 20, the government borrowed Tk 78,832 crore from commercial banks. At the same time last year, the amount of this loan was Tk 45,231 crore. As a result, the government’s borrowing has increased by Tk 33,601 crore this year compared to last year.

The government borrowed the money from commercial banks by selling treasury bills and bonds. Bangladesh Bank sources confirmed the information.

According to Bangladesh Bank, the government currently owes Tk 3.97 lakh crore to commercial banks. However, in the first eight months of the 2024-25 fiscal year, the government repaid Tk 62,000 crore of the loans taken from the central bank through loans taken from commercial banks.

As a result, the government’s outstanding borrowing from the central bank has decreased by about 40 percent. This debt has come down to Rs 94,042 crore from Rs 1.56 lakh crore in June 2024.

Bangladesh Bank officials say that the money withdrawn from the weak banks has started returning to the banking sector. As a result, liquidity flow in the banking sector has increased. As a result, whenever the government raises any treasury bills and bonds, many banks are beating together. As a result, interest rates that have crossed 12 percent have started to come down.

According to the revised budget for the current fiscal year, the government plans to borrow Tk 1,17,000 crore from internal sources in the entire fiscal year. Of this, Tk 99,000 crore will come from the banking sector and Tk 18,000 crore from the non-banking sector. As a result, the government has borrowed 17 percent of the target from the banking sector in about 7 months so far.

As of February 20, the government’s net borrowing from the banking sector stood at Rs 4.91 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.74 lakh crore at the end of June 2024.