91.46% agro credit disbursed till May: BB

Banks have distributed 91.46 per cent agriculture loans in 11 months of the current fiscal year.

Bangladesh Bank’s latest data released on Tuesday show that different scheduled banks have disbursed agriculture credit of Tk 25,966.73 crore in July-May period of fiscal year 2021-22 against the disbursement target of Tk 28,391 crore.

In the previous fiscal year (FY21), Tk 21,970.39 crore was disbursed against the target of Tk 26,292 crore, which is 83.56 per cent of the target.

Md Abdul Hakim, executive director and former general manager of Agriculture Credit Department, BB, told UNB that the central bank hoped 100 per cent agriculture credit disbursement target will be achieved this fiscal.

According to a report of the department, demand and collection of agricultural loans have increased in the current financial year as compared to last fiscal.

The agriculture loan disbursement has increased by 18.18 per cent in the current financial year as compared to the same period of the previous financial year.

However, due to the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the distribution and collection of agricultural loans decreased in the last fiscal year.

In the current FY22, the target for government-owned commercial and specialised banks was set at Tk 11,045 crore. In the first 11 months (July-May), these banks disbursed Tk 10,694 crore, which is 96.83 per cent of the target.

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During this period, against the set target of Tk 17,346 crore for private and foreign banks, Tk 15,271 crore or 88.04 per cent has been disbursed.

At present, the outstanding balance of agricultural credit in the banking sector stands at Tk 49,551 crore.

Of this, the defaulted debt in the agricultural sector till April was Tk 3,652 crore or 7.67 per cent of the total agriculture credit.