Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The disbursement of agriculture loan improved slightly in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2011-12, as the central bank has strengthened its monitoring and supervision of the lenders.
“We’ve strengthened our monitoring and supervision, aiming to achieve the overall farm credit disbursement target by the end of this fiscal,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN, adding that the central bank wants to ensure the quality of farm loan than quantity.
“We expect that the agricultural loan disbursement situation will improve further in the month of March due to Boro cropping season,” the central banker noted.
Meanwhile, the rate of negative growth of the agriculture loan disbursement narrowed to 3.77 per cent in July-February period of the present FY, from 6.15 per cent in July-January period of the same FY, according to the central bank statistics.
All the banks and financial institutions disbursed a total of BDT 76.89 billion farm loan during the period under review, compared to BDT 79.90 billion of the same period of the previous fiscal.
The loan has been given to more than 40 different agro and rural sectors and groups, including crop, fisheries, livestock, agricultural and irrigation equipments, solar irrigation system, high yielding variety of crops, tissue culture, jute cultivation, nursery, marginal and small farmers, sharecroppers, salt and betel leaf cultivation, apiculture, mushroom cultivation, hand-looms, silk industry, cotton cultivation, rural finance, women engaged in income generating, and agriculture and allied agricultural activities.
Of the total loan amount, six state-owned banks and institutions disbursed BDT 51.84 billion, and local private and foreign commercial banks disbursed BDT 25.05 billion, the BB data showed.
The banks and financial institutions have achieved 55.72 percent of their annual loan disbursement target, earlier fixed at BDT 138 billion. The amount is 9.38 percent higher than that of the previous fiscal.
The recovery of farm loan, however, rose to BDT 81.33 billion during the period under review, from BDT 75.59 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the central bank added.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-19Mar12-8:10 am (BST)