AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF INDEBTEDNESS OF THE CLASS IV EMPLOYEES OF BANGLADESH AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

The study was undertaken to study the nature and extent of indebtedness of the Class IV employees of Bangladesh Agricultural University. It was found that nearly two-thirds of them were indebted to one or more than one sources. Among the borrower-employees, about two-thirds borrowed from the University Provident Fund amounting to about one-third of the total loan amount. More than 50 percent of the loan amount was borrowed from private money lenders and the so called ‘cooperative and welfare-societies,’ charging an usurious interest rate ranging from 120 to 240 percent. The majority of the loanee-employees who borrowed from private money leaders and societies repaid only interest charges which amounted to more than 90 percent of their total borrowing. The overall loan repayment percentage was found to be less than 10 percent, thus piling an average amount of outstanding debt of more than Tk. 12,000. Lenders' characteristics show that about 60 percent of them were University employees operating money lending business mostly for the fellow employees of the University. Interest earning became their major source of income