Bangladesh Bank said they have three objectives: 1. To reduce total bank default loans, now slightly below 10 percent, to below 8 percent. 2. Reducing the default loan of government banks to 10 percent and the default loan of private banks to 5 percent, which are currently 22 percent and 7 percent respectively. 3. To ensure good governance in the banking sector, bring down to zero loans given beyond the credit limit, loans given in false names for vested interests and loans given by fraud and deception.
In 2009, defaulted loans were around Tk 220 billion (Tk 22,000 crore), which have now increased to over Tk 1.55 trillion (Tk 1 lakh 55 thousand crore). Considering the circumstances, the media is considering the roadmap of Bangladesh Bank as positive. So what could be the reason for this new ban on journalists?
The responsibilities of Bangladesh Bank include formulating and implementing monetary policy and credit policy; To supervise and control banks and non-bank financial institutions; Managing the country's foreign exchange reserves, issuing currency (notes and coins), controlling and supervising repayments, etc.
If these works are in the interest of the public and the country, then journalists have the right to give information about these subjects to the public. It cannot be expected that Bangladesh Bank will provide all the detailed information on its website, as claimed by the Awami League General Secretary. Such disclosures are made in countries where there is complete transparency and accountability in the functioning of government institutions. Nevertheless, journalists have a duty to provide unknown information to the people.
No official has posted anything on the website about the loan scams that happened during the current government or the previous government. Journalists dug up the ground and exposed these scams to the people. In many cases, action was taken again in some quarters based on clues provided by the news media.
When journalists get information from different sources, they have to go to Bangladesh Bank to clarify these stories. If this is seen as a conspiracy or an attempt to hide the facts, it will not be good for Bangladesh Bank either.