Banks’ bad loans surpass Tk 6 lakh crore again

Non-performing loans (NPLs) in the country’s banking sector have surpassed Tk 6 lakh crore again, despite a series of initiatives to reduce toxic loans.

At the end of June this year, bad loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 6,06,555 crore, which is 32.78 percent of the total disbursed loans, according to the latest data from Bangladesh Bank.

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In the last three months until June, NPLs increased by Tk 17,851 crore, as the figure stood at Tk 5,88,704 crore in March this year. The NPL ratio was 32.26 percent.

At the end of December 2025, defaulted loans stood at Tk 5,57,217 crore.

Earlier, NPLs in the banking sector stood at Tk 6.44 lakh crore, or nearly 36 percent of disbursed loans, at the end of September 2025.

Widespread irregularities, scams, and weak oversight in the financial sector in previous years have driven up bad loans in the sector.

Bankers said that many top borrowers became defaulters after the fall of the Awami League-led government in 2024, and the loans of these borrowers are now difficult to recover.

They also said that many good loans are showing signs of stress and that the overall banking sector is going through a downturn, which is why NPLs may have increased.