Financial Blackholes: PDB suffers a loss of ‘Tk 10,271 cr in 2018-19 FY alone’

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) suffered the highest loss of Tk 10,271.58 crore among 49 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the outgoing 2018-19 fiscal year (till April 30), according to the Bangladesh Economic Survey (BES) 2019.

Thirteen other SOEs suffered a loss of Tk 13,068.62 crore during the period against their losses of Tk 11,366.30 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal year, which means the losses of these SOEs have gone up by Tk 1,701.70 crore, the BES data shows.

The BES reveals that the amount of loss incurred by the PDB in the last fiscal year was Tk 9,284,62 crore. The loss counted by the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has declined to Tk 59.91 crore as the amount was Tk 95.52 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

The amount of loss suffered by the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) is Tk 981.96 crore against its last year's loss of Tk 833.36 crore while that of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) is Tk 911.43 crore which was Tk 555.40 crore in the last fiscal year.

Besides, the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) incurred a loss of Tk 695.13 crore against Tk 497.04 crore of the last fiscal year.

The accumulated amount of losses suffered by eight other SOEs during the outgoing fiscal year is around Tk 100 crore.

On the other hand, the amount of profit made by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is on the wane as it stands at Tk 1,944.73 crore this time against Tk 5,644.37 crore in the last fiscal year.

The amount of profit made by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is expected to be Tk 2,548.56 crore against Tk 6,262.97 crore in 2017-18 fiscal year, the BSE shows.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is set to make a profit of Tk 358.47 crore in the current fiscal against Tk 689.92 crore in the last fiscal year.

The profit by the Rural Electrification Board and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has marked a rise compared to the previous fiscal year as REB’s profit is going to be Tk 592.31 crore in this fiscal against Tk 351.43 crore in the last fiscal year.

The BSE data reveals that Rajuk will make a profit Tk 488.58 crore in the ongoing fiscal year against Tk 416.15 crore in the last fiscal.

As per the BES data, the total loss of the 49 SOEs has increased because of PDB’s loss of Tk 10,271.58 crore. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, they earned Tk 5,172.79 crore while their earnings in the outgoing fiscal year as of April 30 are Tk 4032.75 crore.

In 2012-13 FY, as per the BSE statistics, the SOEs were in loss as they incurred a loss of Tk 2,604.73 crore.

However, the SOEs had been making profit since 2013-14. In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the profit earned by the SOEs was Tk 10,888.53 crore, a record in Bangladesh’s history. But the profit in the following fiscal came down to Tk 9,308.94 crore and slumped to Tk 5,172.79 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Source: unb