The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

In spite of assuming liability of Tk 7,523 crore of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) by the government in the current fiscal year's budget, it (BPC) is again going to get Tk 2,100 crore (US$ 300 million) from three nationalised commercial banks (NCBs)-Sonali, Janata and Agrani-to import fuel oil.

Earlier in the last week, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources sought Tk 2,100 crore of loan from the Bangladesh Bank for the BPC.

The BPC owes about Tk 4,500 crore to the foreign banks operating in Bangladesh. Since the foreign banks are reluctant to provide the BPC any further loans unless their previous loans are repaid, the three state-owned banks have agreed to provide the BPC Tk 2,100 crore fresh loan at the directive of Bangladesh Bank.

It is learnt that the accumulated outstanding loan of BPC taken from three nationalized commercial banks (NCBs) stood at around Tk 12,820 crore, exposing the whole banking system to serious vulnerability. Of the amount, BPC owes Tk 4,912.58 crore to Sonali Bank, Tk 4,775 crore to Agrani Bank and Tk 3,132 crore to Janata Bank.

Sources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said there are a strong disagreement between the BPC and three commercial banks over the outstanding amount of loan. The banks claim that the BPC wants to show the amount deducting the regular interest on the loan, while the BPC says that the banks have been claiming exaggerated amount from it Instead of resolving this problem, the BPC is again going to take fresh loans from three commercial banks. In the current fiscal year's budget, the government decided to assume the accumulated default loan of BPC as its own liability by issuing treasury bonds of equivalent amount

According to the Finance Adviser Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, the issuance of treasury bonds will resolve the long-standing problems relating to the BPC's loan.

The sources said the different companies now owe Tk 1,878 crore to the BPC, while the BPC itself owes Tk 4,500 crore to the Islamic Development Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. As the price of fuel oil continues to rise in the international market, the government has also been facing great difficulties to repay the loans taken from the foreign banks. The BPC incurs a loss of Tk 217 crore in August alone for importing fuel oil as the oil price in global market goes up substantially.