Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Both disbursement and recovery of agriculture loan fell more than 5.0 per cent in the first half (H1) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Disbursement of agriculture loans dropped by 5.05 per cent to BDT 70.74 billion in the July-December period of the FY 15 from BDT 74.50 billion in the corresponding period of the FY 14, according to the central bank statistics.
Of the BDT 70.74 billion, six state-owned banks disbursed BDT 41.49 billion and the remaining BDT 29.25 billion was disbursed by private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
All scheduled banks achieved more than 45 per cent of their annual agricultural loan disbursement target, fixed at BDT 155.50 billion for the FY 15.
“We’re working to achieve the target by the end of this fiscal,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the central bank had already asked the banks to continue with both disbursement and recovery of farm credit in any circumstances.
On the other hand, the recovery of farm loans fell by 5.65 per cent to BDT 78.81 billion during the period under review from BDT 83.53 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The non-performing loans (NPLs) in the agriculture sector came down to 19.09 per cent in the H1 of the FY 15 from 19.43 per cent in the corresponding period of the FY 14.
The aggregate amount of NPLs in the agriculture sector stood at BDT 57.65 billion during the period under review with the aggregate amount of outstanding loans accounting for BDT 153.06 billion, the BB data showed.
BBN/SSR/AD-22Jan15-11:49 am (BST)