Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Farm credit disbursement grew by 11.10 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2019-20, as demand for such loan has been picked up due to seasonal effects.
Disbursement of agriculture loan rose to BDT 83.05 billion in the July-November of FY ’20 from BDT 74.76 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
Officials said agriculture loan disbursement may increase further in the coming months as the central bank is pursuing bankers continuously for achieving the target of such loan by the end of this fiscal.
As part of the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, is set to meet with both public and private commercial banks this week for reviewing the latest situation on agriculture loan disbursement and recovery performances.
The BB high ups are scheduled to meet with senior officials of private commercial banks (PCBs) at the central bank headquarters in the city on December 24.
On December 30, the central bankers are set to meet with senior officials of eight state-owned banks (SoBs) on same ground, they added.
The SoBs are - Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, Agrani Bank Limited, Rupali Bank Limited, BASIC Bank Limited, Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL), BKB and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB).
At the meetings, the central bank is set to ask the bankers for taking effective measures to boost farm credit disbursement for achieving their targets by the end of this fiscal.
Talking to the BBN, a BB senior official said the central bank would ask the bankers at the meetings to expedite farm credit disbursement to help ensuring food security of the country.
He also said the central bank would advise the bankers to invest more funds in cultivation of pulses, oilseeds, and spices for boosting output of the agriculture products to meet domestic demand.
Of the BDT 83.05 billion, eight SoBs disbursed BDT 40.46 billion, and the remaining BDT 42.59 billion was disbursed by the PCBs and foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
Meanwhile, all scheduled banks have achieved 34.43 per cent of their FY ’20 agricultural loan disbursement target, fixed at BDT 241.24 billion.
“The disbursement of farm credit has already started picking up that would be continued until March 2020,” Md. Ali Hossain Prodhania, managing director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB), said while explaining the latest trend of agriculture credit disbursement.
The BKB is emphasising fresh borrowers along with existing ones aiming to bring more unbanked people into the banking network to help achieving sustainable development goals,” Mr. Prodhania added.
The senior banker also expressed hope that BKB will exceed its agriculture loan disbursement target by the end of FY ’20.
The specialised public bank had set BDT 55 billion farm loan disbursement target for this fiscal year.
On the other hand, the aggregate recovery of farm loans, however, rose to BDT 87.53 billion during the period under review from BDT 84.79 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
BBN/SSR/AD