Travel ban on SLB delinquents bad idea

Delinquency among borrowers from the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB), which it places at 18 per cent, is indeed a serious problem. Delinquent borrowers owe $1.1 billion.

The agency has a right to expect to be repaid and to take action to get its money back, but barring people from leaving the country, as is being contemplated, cannot be among them.

People who borrow from the SLB have to name guarantors who commit to pay in the event of default, as is required by other financial institutions. When borrowers fail to meet their payment obligations financial institutions foreclose and the legal system takes its course.

A travel ban is more the policy of authoritarian states.

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