BB director seeks data on agri loans below Tk10,000 — governor doesn't know

The Bangladesh Bank on the direction from a member of the central bank's board of directors has sent letters to banks, seeking information on agricultural loans of up to Tk10,000.

"As per an urgent direction of honourable member of the Bangladesh Bank's board of director [conveyed by director (ACD-1) sir], you are requested to send the total principal, interest/profit and outstanding figure (as on 31 December 2025) of the agricultural and rural loan/investments amounting up to Tk10,000," the letter said.

The letter, sent through email on Thursday after office hours, instructed banks to submit the information by 12 noon on Sunday.

Arief Hossain Khan, spokesperson and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, confirmed that the request for data on loans was made at the demand of a board member.

A senior official from the relevant BB's Agricultural Credit Department told The Business Standard, "I was ordered by a director to request information on agricultural loans below Tk10,000, and I sent emails to the banks accordingly."

When asked who the letter referred to as a member of the board, the official. Requesting anonymity, identified him as Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir.

Titumir is a professor at Dhaka University's Development Studies Department and chairperson of the private research organisation, Unnayan Onneshan. 

Multiple attempts to contact Titumir for comment were unsuccessful.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur told TBS: "I am not aware whether banks were asked for such data; I will look into the matter."

Several managing directors of several public and private banks said that while the Bangladesh Bank routinely seeks information, the process in this instance was unusual. 

An MD of a private bank told TBS, "Typically, the central bank requests data in a standard procedure, but this time the request came by email on very short notice."

Sources say the normal protocol for requesting data from banks was not followed. Senior officials of the central bank or the Board did not discuss the request in any meetings. Usually, such requests are accompanied by a note presented by the relevant department to the executive director, deputy governor, or sometimes the governor. This process was not observed in this case.

An MD of a state-owned bank said, "Our bank has over 30,000 such borrowers, with nearly Tk50 crore currently outstanding. We already face difficulties in collecting repayments. If a political decision is imposed to waive these loans, it will be extremely challenging, as these are depositors' funds and cannot be written off arbitrarily."

An MD of a first-generation private bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "If the practice of loan waivers continues, ignoring subsidies and other agricultural support, it is worth considering how much marginal farmers will actually benefit. Bangladesh Bank has long displayed such unprofessional behaviour, and especially since 5 August, its bias towards a particular political party has repeatedly emerged."