Finance Minister A M A Muhith has criticised errant borrowers for not repaying loans, terming them 'shameless'.
"Loan default is a matter of shame for any individual. Somehow we do not have that shame. It's very unfortunate," the minister said at a programme at his secretariat office on Thursday.
"They (defaulters) think, 'I have taken the loan. I don't need to repay it'," the minister said.
Mr Muhith's remark came when a delegation of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) met him with a memo of 11-point demands, including removing of barriers to smooth business activities, and raising tax-GDP ratio, among others.
The minister referred to a borrower's testimony, who nearly thirty years back told him that he would not repay the loan.
"To get the loan, I had to struggle a lot. I have a tally of how many pairs of shoes I've destroyed to get the loan. So, I won't repay it," said the minister, quoting the defaulter.
Mr Muhith said he is not sure whether that attitude still prevails among the borrowers.
"Because, since that time we've made borrowing much easier," he said.
Replying to a query the minister said he intends to write a report in November on banking for his successor, based on his long ten years' experience as finance minister.
Asked what he will mention in the report, Mr Muhith said he will probably suggest that the moment the overall default loan increases to a particular level, for example 10 per cent, the people concerned have to look after it.
"If you can keep it (default loan) below 10 per cent, you are safe."
Regarding a proposal to make the bankers concerned personally liable if any loan becomes default, Mr Muhith said he is yet to think the issue in that way.
The central bank data shows that the amount of non-performing loans (NPL) in banking sector jumped by Tk 150.37 billion and reached Tk 893.40 billion at the end of this June from last December.
At the same period the share of the classified loans became 10.41 per cent of the total outstanding loans.
NPL of the six state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs) alone rose to Tk 428.52 billion in June from Tk 373.26 billion in December.
The minister said Bangladesh is supposed to reduce customs duty consistently and move towards tax-free import. However, the plan will not be successful in next 25 years.
"We do not make large reduction (of customs duty). The main reason is we are concerned with revenue. Our revenue earning is one of the lowest in the world. The tax-GDP ratio is also very low."
Mr Muhith said even Nepal has much higher tax-GDP ratio.
"In this region there is no country with such a low tax-GDP ratio like Bangladesh."
"Our taxpayers are very low in number, although recently there is a change," he opined while explaining the reason behind the low tax-GDP ratio.
However, he said last year a target of having fresh set of taxpayers was set, and that has been exceeded fabulously.
The target was to increase the number of taxpayers from 1.4 million to 2.0 million. But it has gone beyond 3.0 million.
The minister further said majority of the new taxpayers was young people. "I think we will see a substantial change in this respect (in the future)."
IBFB President Humayun Rashid requested the minister for ensuring a business-friendly environment, capacity building of ports, improving connectivity, and providing incentives to new export-oriented sectors as an alternative to apparel sector, among others.
IBFB founder president Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, vice presidents M S Siddiqui and Lutfunnisa Saudia Khan, and directors Mozibur Rahman and Dr Md Ali Afzal, also spoke on the occasion, among others.
syful-islam@outlook.com