Dhaka, Sept. 29 -- Bangladesh Bank (BB) has made it mandatory for all banks and financial institutions to report private sector foreign loans, including suppliers' credit, to the central bank's Credit Information Bureau (CIB) database.

The central bank issued a directive on Monday and sent it to the top executives of all commercial banks. The new instruction, aimed at improving financial sector governance, will be effective from November this year.

Currently, foreign loan data is not included in the CIB database. This exclusion means the CIB report does not reflect the borrower's true debt burden, potentially allowing an entity that has failed to repay a foreign loan to still obtain a new local loan.

By including foreign loan informati...