Factories fail to tap Tk 20,000cr BB lifeline
15 September 2026
Around three and a half months after Bangladesh Bank announced guidelines for a loan scheme to reopen closed factories, not a single taka has been disbursed under the Tk 20,000 crore programme.
15 September 2026
Suspicious payments shadow Bangla QR transaction boom
14 September 2026
A sharp rise in Bangla QR transactions since July has raised concerns among industry insiders, including mobile financial service providers, who suspect that a portion of the surge may be driven by fake or suspicious payments rather than genuine purchases.
14 September 2026
Ten banks account for 72% of total bad loans
10 September 2026
Ten banks accounted for more than 72 percent of the banking sector’s total non-performing loans, according to the central bank, showing that the country’s 61 commercial lenders are not equally responsible for the sector’s financial distress.
10 September 2026
Spotlight / Depositors of five troubled banks getting money back
8 September 2026
Ahsanul Haque Tanvir, a customer of First Security Islami Bank’s (FSIBL) Topkhana Road branch, repeatedly visited the bank over the past one and a half years to withdraw his deposit of Tk 48 lakh, but in vain. On Monday, he finally withdrew the full amount from his savings account.
8 September 2026
Good borrowers pay, but defaulters finally win
6 September 2026
An economy cannot maintain credit discipline when offenders are repeatedly rewarded rather than punished. When such rewards become the norm, borrowers start to feel less obligated to repay.
6 September 2026
Bad loans now over Tk 6 lakh crore
3 September 2026
Bad loans in the country’s banking sector have surpassed Tk 6 lakh crore once again despite a series of policy support measures for defaulted borrowers, indicating the fragile state of the sector.
3 September 2026
Fake online loans lead borrowers into costly traps
24 August 2026
People are losing hard-earned cash to online scams offering cheap loans and quick investment returns
24 August 2026
Siphoned out assets: Global law firms hired on ‘no win no pay’ to recover $2.5b
10 August 2026
Authorities have stepped up efforts to recover assets worth $2.5 billion allegedly siphoned abroad by 42 major loan defaulters, in addition to those identified in 11 priority cases.
10 August 2026
Banks waive penalty for delayed loan repayment
Some banks have decided not to impose any interest or fees on clients for delayed payment of loan instalments, including that against credit cards, amidst a nationwide curfew and internet blackout.
23 July 2024
ATM services, digital banking disrupted
Online banking, ATM and digital payment services including money transfers and utility bill payments continued to be disrupted yesterday amid the ongoing internet blackout across the country since Thursday.
20 July 2024
BB keeps key policy rate unchanged but signals further tightening
Despite suggestions for a policy rate hike from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and economists, the central bank of Bangladesh has kept unchanged the major tool of its monetary policy at 8.5 percent although inflation is running high.
18 July 2024
BB to keep policy rates high to curb inflation
Bangladesh Bank is going to unveil the monetary policy for the first half of fiscal year 2024-25 tomorrow and is expected to retain its tight monetary stance as its foremost target is to bring down the spiralling inflation.
16 July 2024
A country where loan defaulters are rewarded!
All over the world, strict actions are taken against loan defaulters, with many countries imposing travel bans and seeking legal recourse. In Bangladesh, however, defaulters get mega-discounts.
14 July 2024
NBFIs’ bad loans surge to a record Tk 23,208 crore
Defaulted loans at non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) soared 38 percent to a record Tk 23,208.7 crore at the end of 2023, raising concerns over the sector’s deteriorating health.
11 July 2024
BB signals further monetary tightening as inflation rages
The central bank has signalled that it would go for more tightening of the monetary policy since inflationary pressure shows no signs of cooling.
11 July 2024
State banks nowhere near target to retrieve funds from top defaulters
Four state-run banks in Bangladesh are finding it difficult to recoup loans from their top 20 defaulters, a failure that has worsened their financial health and squeezed their capacity further to lend.
9 July 2024
Old political issue has evolved from financial to structural problem
A longstanding political issue has now evolved from a financial concern to a structural problem in Bangladesh, according to noted economist Prof Rehman Sobhan.
8 July 2024
Financial account turns positive. It’s more about $14b export data correction
The financial account has turned positive after more than a year, yet it might not be good news for Bangladesh since it is the result of the revision of national data in line with IMF prescription and does not indicate improvement in the health of the economy.
3 July 2024
BB injected $12.79b into banks in FY24
The Bangladesh Bank injected $12.79 billion into banks from its reserves in the just-concluded 2023-24 fiscal year as banks combatted a severe US dollar crisis which hampered import payments.
2 July 2024
Remittance hit $24b in FY24, highest in three years
After hovering around the $21-billion mark for the previous two fiscal years, total remittances sent home by Bangladesh’s migrant workers reached nearly $24 billion in the just concluded fiscal year of 2023-24, providing some breathing space amid the forex crunch.
1 July 2024
Economy in FY25: Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?
There is hope that the major challenges Bangladesh is facing due to high inflation and the foreign reserve crisis will stabilise gradually in fiscal year 2024-25, but consistency in maintaining a strict policy stance will be imperative to that end.
30 June 2024
FY24: one of the gloomiest years for economy
At the beginning of fiscal year 2023-24, there was an expectation that the country’s economy would recover from the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and other external pressures.
29 June 2024
BRAC Bank thrives on SMEs that many consider a no-go
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered risky clients by most formal sector lenders since their financial health is weak and they are not good at managing risks and are expensive to lend. However, BRAC Bank has a different story to tell.
22 June 2024
Banks’ surging investments in bills, bonds shrink loanable funds
Banks in Bangladesh are increasing their investments in Treasury bills and bonds to net higher profits from the rising interest rate, a development that has squeezed the availability of loans for borrowers.
16 June 2024
Forex reserves to get $2b boost
Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves are set to receive as high as $2 billion this month, which may send the total to nearly $21 billion, handing a much-needed relief to the US dollar supply.
14 June 2024
Bangladesh Bank’s digital efforts off to a slow start
The services have received lukewarm responses from the targeted customers because they were launched hastily and lack user-friendly features and campaigns were not run to make them popular. Besides, there is no incentive and banks are unwilling, industry insiders said.
12 June 2024
BB allows new entities to assess credit worthiness of borrowers
These credit bureaus will work to determine credit standards by analysing borrower data before sharing it with banks, which will help financial institutions make informed decisions, said the central bank guidelines on the licencing, operating and regulating of credit bureaus.
10 June 2024
Why have loan defaults risen sharply?
However, NPLs rose 38.5 percent year-on-year to Tk 1,82,295 crore by the end of March, accounting for 11.11 percent of the total loans disbursed in the banking system, according to central bank data.
8 June 2024