Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The amount of classified loans in the agriculture sector jumped by 14.09 per cent during the first 10 months of the ongoing financial year (FY) despite the central bank’s close monitoring.
The non-performing loans (NPLs) of farmers rose to BDT 49.26 billion during the July-April period of the FY 2016-17 from BDT 43.17 billion in the same period of the previous FY, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
Talking to BBN, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the volume of NPLs increased during the period under review mainly due to higher growth of outstanding loans in the agriculture sector.
The total amount of outstanding loans in the sector rose to BDT 371.48 billion in during the period under review from BDT 324.52 billion in the same period of last fiscal.
However, the share of NPLs considering the outstanding loans came down to 13.26 per cent in the first 10 months of this FY from 13.30 per cent in the same period of FY 16, the BB data showed.
The central bank has already asked the banks to expedite recovery drives across the country for reducing the amount of NPLs in the agriculture sector, the central banker added.
“We expect that the volume on NPLs in the agriculture sector will decrease in the coming months,” the BB official noted.
However, the recovery of farm loans rose by 10.31 per cent to BDT 153.43 billion during the period under review from BDT 139.10 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
BBN/SSR/AD