Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has set the small and medium enterprise (SME) credit disbursement target at BDT 1.13 trillion for 2016, marking 8.53 per cent growth over that of previous year, officials said.
“We’ve fixed the target on the basis of information, provided by all 56 scheduled banks and 31 non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs),” Nirmal Chandra Bhakta, executive director of the BB, said.
Of the total target, six state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) and two specialised banks, according to the central bank latest statistics, will disburse BDT 142.49 billion in 2016.
Thirty nine private commercial banks (PCBs) will distribute BDT 917.80 billion while nine foreign commercial banks (FCBs) will lend BDT 20.16 billion to the entrepreneurs.
Besides, all NBFIs have made commitment to disburse BDT 54.59 billion as SME loans during the current calendar year.
BB’s executive director hopes that the SME loan disbursement target will be achieved by the end of this calendar year.
The loans will be given to more than 60 SME sectors such as light engineering, handicraft, flower, fish processing, handloom, rice-mill, jamdani, Rajshahi silk, khadi, bio-gas and compost fertilizer.
“We’re working to achieve sustainable development through boosting financing in productive sector including SME,” Mr. Bhakta explained.
Meanwhile, the disbursement of SME loan crossed the target in the outgoing calendar year 2015 as the central bank has strengthened its monitoring and supervision to the lenders.
All banks and NBFIs achieved 110.79 per cent of their annual SME loan disbursement target, which has been fixed at BDT 1.04 trillion for the last calendar year.
The banks and NBFIs disbursed BDT 1.16 trillion as SME loan in 2015, according to the official figures, released by the BB on Thursday.
BBN/SSR/AD