ISLAMABAD: Recently documents related to written-off loans were exposed, which were then presented in parliament.
The national banks wrote off about Rs1.39 trillion loans in the last 25 years. The beneficiaries included industrialists, traders, parliamentarians, retired generals and former army officers. Over Rs 91.71 billion loans, the most in the history of the country were written off during the term of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf from 2002 to 2007.
About Rs24.45 billion loans were written off during three tenures of the PML-N and Rs23.35 billion in three terms of the PPP. Few Elites received loans through different companies and had them written off many times.
In the first tenure of the PML-N, from 1991 to 1993, Rs374 million loans were waived; in the second term from 1997 to 1999, Rs12.42 billion loans were written off. In the three current three years of the PML-N term, Rs11.65 billion loans were written off from 2013 to 2016.
No loan was written off by banks in the first tenure of the PPP. In its second term, from 1994 to 1996, Rs2.85 billion loans were written off while Rs20.45 billion were waived in its third term from 2008 to 2012.
The banks included National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, Muslim Commercial Bank Limited, SME Bank, The Bank of Punjab, The Bank of Khyber, Industrial Develeopment Bank and Zarai Taraqiati Bank.
The Muslim Commercial Bank was privatised in 2002 while 51pc shares of United Bank and Allied Bank have been sold. Habib Bank’s 51pc shares were sold in February 2004 while the rest were sold in February 2004.
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