Four state-run banks in Bangladesh are finding it difficult to recoup loans from their top 20 defaulters, a failure that has worsened their financial health and squeezed their capacity further to lend.

The combined bad loans of the banks surged 27 percent year-on-year to Tk 62,913 crore at the end of last year. Two years prior, total bad loans of the four state banks stood at just over Tk 38,200 crore, according to financial statements.

The government will appoint a total of 1,663 senior officers in eight state-run banking institutions in the country