During the July-November period, a total of Tk7,571.07 crore had been disbursed. The fiscal year’s target was set at Tk17,550.00 crore.
During the first five months, the state-owned commercial banks disbursed Tk3,396.10 crore and private commercial banks and foreign banks disbursed Tk4,174.97 crore or 50.54%.
Bangladesh Bank sources said the central bank would take action against the commercial banks if found negligent in disbursing agricultural loans.
The central bank wants to raise agricultural production in the country and ease inflation of major foodstuffs like rice, wheat and potato in rural areas.
“The central bank emphasised the need for banks to achieve the target of farm loan disbursement,” a top official of Bangladesh Bank said, adding that crop production has not be hampered by natural disasters.
The state-owned commercial and specialised banks, such as the Bangladesh Krishi Bank, were the main supplier of farm credit. They achieved around 41% of the target at the end of November, Sonali bank 21.06%, Bangladesh Development Bank 5.52%, Basic Bank 51.49% and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank 28.39%.
Among other state-owned banks, Janata Bank achieved 53.64%, Agrani Bank 33.81% and Rupali Bank 46.21% of the targets.
During a meeting with managing directors of all 56 scheduled banks in last August, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said: “The banks must achieve the farm loan targets to avoid penalty.”
Bangladesh Bank raised the current fiscal year’s farm credit target for banks by 7% to Tk17,550 crore from the last fiscal year.
However, the target is lower by nearly Tk100 crore than the actual disbursement made by the banks in the previous fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2016
The target for the last fiscal year was Tk16,400 crore, but the banks lent Tk17,646 crore. The interest rate on the loan was fixed at 11%.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
