Finance Minister AMA Muhith has sought details on the payment of dividends by 10 state-owned entities in the one decade from 2009.
The government expressed resentment over the poor dividend payments to the state coffers, a senior official of finance division said.
Finance ministry asked different line ministries to take prompt action for availability of the information the minister has sought, sources said.
It has made a move to know about the overall status of the state-run agencies, the official stated.
A deputy secretary of finance division said the agencies are not able to pay dividends as per the government's expectations.
Some are eating a large sum of state funds per annum.
The government is considering taking a new policy to increase its earnings from the agencies.
They are Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company Limited (BIFC), Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd (BDBL), Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), BASIC Bank, Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC), Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and Grameen Bank.
Scam-hit Basic Bank is not able to pay dividend to the state for net loss for the last couple of years. Rather it got the highest Tk 33.90 billion.
BASIC Bank Chairman Alauddin A Majid said, "We can make operating profit but we can't make net profit. How will we pay dividend to the government?"
The BDBL pays dividend to the state exchequer every year. In the last three years, it paid Tk 100 million to the government as dividend.
Earlier, it gave Tk 50 million to the government.
Grameen Bank earned a total of Tk 3.10 billion operating profit in 2017, which was all-time high since its inception.
Presently, the government investment in the bank is Tk 205.8 million.
It paid Tk 252.3 million in dividend till 2016.
The ICB approved 30 per cent cash dividend and 5.0 per cent stock dividend for fiscal year 2016-17 against each share of Tk 10, according to a statement.
The government is entitled to cash dividend amounting to over Tk 512.57 million and 85,42,968 shares as bonus against their holding of 17,08,59,380 shares.
The lone state-owned non-life insurer SBC earned a profit (before tax) of Tk 3.01 billion and Tk 2.85 billion for 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The corporation earned Tk 2.83 billion in 2015.
It deposited to the government Tk 400 million as non-tax revenue in 2017 and 2016 each.
The BTRC earned revenue to the tune of Tk 40.66 billion in FY 2015-17.
It paid Tk over 39.20 billion to the government after administrative and other costs in the fiscal.
The IDRA provided Tk 1.28 billion as surplus fund to the national exchequer since its inception, IDRA member Gokul Chandra Das told the FE.
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