Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The amount of classified loans in the agricultural sector jumped by 27.07 per cent in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY) despite a close watch by the central bank of Bangladesh.
The non-performing loans (NPLs) of the farmers rose to BDT 52.41 billion in the FY 2016-17 from BDT 41.24 billion in the previous fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB)’s latest statistics.
Talking to BBN, a BB senior official said the volume of NPLs increased mainly due to higher growth in outstanding loans in the agriculture sector.
The total amount of outstanding loans in the sector rose to BDT 390.47 billion in the July-June period of the last FY from BDT 344.77 billion in the same period of the FY 16.
The BB official also said the central bank has already instructed all the scheduled banks for taking effective measures so that fresh loans do not turn into classified ones.
The official figures showed that the share of NPLs in the outstanding loans rose to 13.42 per cent in the FY 17 from 11.96 per cent in the previous fiscal.
The volume of NPLs from eight state-owned banks stood at BDT 51.01 in the past FY 17 against BDT 40.13 billion in the FY 16, while the classified loans from both private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs) rose to BDT 1.40 billion from BDT 1.12 billion.
The eight public banks are Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, Agrani Bank Limited, Rupali Bank Limited, BASIC Bank Limited, Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB), Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) and Bangladesh Development Bank Limited.
BBN/SSR/AD