‘Rs280 bn debts of private companies written off in last three years’

This response was submitted in Senate to the question asked by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senator Azam Khan Swati.

The written statement said according to the two existing laws financial firms could file case in banking courts to get back debts faster. However, State Bank of Pakistan had presented suggestions to amend those laws in consultation with all the stakeholders. The suggestions had been approved by the National Assembly and sent to the senate for approval.

It said the senate had been submitted a list of 400 private companies who got their debts written off. The list contains the companies which got over Rs50 million debt written off.

According to the written answer, most of the debts were written off in 2015. Six billion rupees were written off in 2013, four billion rupees in 2014 and Rs270 billion in 2015. National Bank of Pakistan wrote off debts of 129 companies, Habib Bank Limited wrote off debts of 239 companies and United Bank wrote off debts of 179 companies.