KARACHI, April 4: Chairman of the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP), Badruddin Khan said on Thursday that the bank will be ready for privatization by June this year.

He stated this during a meeting with Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) members and industrialists. He said that the emphasis of the present management of the bank was introduction of transparent systems.

IDBP chief told KATI members that the sick industrial units on the portfolio of the bank would be handed over to Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) for disposal.

He pointed out that these measures will improve the financial position of the bank.

He informed the industrialists that the bank would be sold to reputable and professional group having a expertise in running the bank.

Badruddin said the IDBP’s employees will be offered golden handshake to rightsize the bank staff strength.

He said that IDBP’s total loan portfolio was estimated at Rs24 billion of which Rs20 billion were bed debts.

He maintained that IDBP is making investment in government securities and inter-bank market side by side putting in more efforts to raise the deposits to expand its capital base.

He said the SBP injected Rs5 billion into the IDBP, out of which Rs2 billion were utilized to retire the foreign debt. The reduction in the liabilities, drastically reduced the expenditures of the bank, he added. IDBP is committed to recover Rs2 billion by June to repair the balance sheet.

About the recovery, he said the Bank’s policy is to go for out of court settlement through a fair and open dialogues with the defaulters. “We are ready to help the investors in reviving their business and industrial units”, he said.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to convert Rs10.6 billion loans of IDBP into equity.

Badruddin Khan said that the SBP support has resulted in the reduction of 1.5 per cent in deposit maintenance cost to 14.5 per cent per annum.

“These steps will result in reducing bank’s losses and convert its negative balance sheet into a positive statement”, Khan hoped.

He was of the view that government’s serious measures will help IDBP to save from total collapse and prepare it for the successful privatization.—APP