Farm credit disbursements dropped by nearly 27% in the first quarter (Q1) of the current FY25 due to political unrest across the country and severe flooding in different parts, officials said.
The disbursements came down to Tk6,458 crore during the July-September quarter of FY25 from Tk8,825 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) latest statistics.
Of the Tk6,458 crore, eight public banks disbursed Tk2,432 crore and the remaining Tk4,026 crore 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.
Meanwhile, all the scheduled banks have achieved 17% of their FY25 agricultural loans disbursement target, fixed at Tk38,000 crore.
The recovery of farm loans rose to Tk9,210 crore during the July-September period of FY25 from Tk8,014 crore in the same period of FY24, the BB data showed.
