Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has asked the commercial banks to expedite farm loan disbursement to achieve target by the end of this fiscal year, officials said.
“The central bank will not allow any negligence of the commercial banks in disbursement of agriculture loans,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the BB has already strengthened its monitoring and supervision to ensure the credit facilities for each interested farmers across the country without any harassment.
The central bank has taken the latest moves against the backdrop of achieving less than 50 percent annual target of farm credit disbursement by the banks and financial institutions during the July-December period of the fiscal year (FY) 2012-13.
The banks and financial institutions have achieved 45.44 per cent of their annual target, which has been fixed at BDT 141.30 billion, in the first half (H1) of the fiscal.  
The disbursement of farm credits increased by over 12 percent in the H1 of the current fiscal following persuasion of the commercial banks continuously by the central bank, the BB officials added.
All banks and financial institutions disbursed BDT 64.20 billion during the period under review compared to BDT 57.30 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
The recovery of farm loans, however, rose to BDT 70.91 billion in the H1 of FY `13 from Tk 64.32 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-17Jan13-7:35 am (BST)