Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Agriculture loan disbursements dropped by nearly 27 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY 2024-25) mainly due to political unrest and severe flooding in different parts of the country, officials said.
The disbursements came down to BDT 64.58 billion during the July-September quarter of FY '25 from BDT 88.25 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) latest statistics.
Of the BDT 64.58 billion, eight public banks disbursed BDT 24.32 billion and the remaining BDT 40.26 billion by the private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
The central bank has already instructed all banks to gear up loan disbursement campaigns across the country to boost production and ensure food security, according to the officials.
The instruction was given at review meetings held at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday and Monday, with Kaniz Fatema, director of the Agricultural Credit Department of the central bank, in the chair.
On Sunday, the central bank met with senior officials of eight state-owned banks to review overall agriculture loan disbursement and recovery performances during the period under review.
The eight public sector lenders are Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, BASIC Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB).
The central bank officials also met with senior officials of PCBs and FCBs on Monday in this regard, they added.
Meanwhile, all the scheduled banks have achieved 17 per cent of their FY ’25 agricultural loans disbursement target, fixed at BDT 380 billion.
The recovery of farm loans, however, rose to BDT 92.10 billion during the July-September period of FY’25 from BDT 80.14 billion in the same period of FY’24, the BB data showed.
BBN/SSR/AD