Written Off Loans From 1971 to 2009

The Supreme Court was informed here on Tuesday that Rs 256.66 billion loans to 6,69,819 borrowers were written off in the last 38 years (1971 to 2009) by public as well as private banks of the country. According to a summary submitted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in the apex court, category wise detail is as under;

Category One:

Loans up to Rs 0.5 million = Rs 213.79 billion

Written off to number of borrowers = 23,445 in the last 38 years.

95 percent were written off during the period of 1997-2009.

Category Second:

Loans from Rs 0.5 million to Rs.2.5 million = Rs 42.871 billion

Written off to number of borrowers = 646,374 in the last 38 years.

Earlier, on December 22, 2009 a bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was told that loans of Rs 193. 404 billion to 19,711 borrowers were written off during the last 12 years (1997-till date) by 37 banks operating in the country. According to the details submitted by SBP, top banker which have written off bank loans are as under;

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) = Rs 49.63 billion,

United Bank Limited (UBL) = Rs 38.45 billion,

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) = Rs 8.54 billion,

Allied Bank Limited (ABL) = Rs 12.17 billion,

MCB Bank Limited = Rs 11.83 billion,

Industrial Development Bank = Rs 11.79 billion and

Zari Taraqiati Bank Ltd = Rs 8.76 billion.