BB raises farm loan disbursement target by 8.88% for FY23

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has raised the agriculture and rural loan disbursement target by 8.88 per cent to Tk 30,911 crore for the current 2022-23 financial year (FY23).

The disbursement target for the immediate past 2021-22 financial year (FY22) was Tk 28,391 crore, said a BB press release issued on Thursday.

Considering the increased demand of agricultural and rural credit, disbursement target for the state owned and specialized commercial banks has been fixed at Tk 11,758.00 crore while the private and foreign commercial banks at Tk 19,153.00 crore.

In the previous financial year (2021-22), all the scheduled commercial banks disbursed agricultural and rural credit of Tk 28,834.21 crore against target of Tk 28,391.00 crore, which is approximately 101.56 per cent of the fixed target.

The agricultural and rural credits were disbursed among 33,04,811 persons in total. Of which 17,97,052 women borrowers have received Tk10,829.39 crore.

Beside, 24,99,945 small and marginal farmers have received around Tk20,182.30 crore from different banks.

Moreover, Tk 19.59 crore was disbursed among 4,073 farmers of char, haor and less developed areas of the country, according to the release.

Agriculture is one of the driving forces of Bangladesh’s economy. The importance of agriculture is being seen more and more in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent global situation. Therefore, Bangladesh Bank is always trying to help the agriculture sector through necessary financing.

Besides these, to achieve the government’s three prime objectives of sustainable development goals (SDGs) - eradication of poverty, ensure safe and nutritious food and ensuring good health and well-being - Bangladesh Bank today published the annual Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Program for the financial year 2022-2023 for mobilizing plenty of credit in the rural area.

To ensure the food security of the people and to develop a sustainable agricultural credit system, there are some new inclusions in the current agricultural credit policy.

These are inclusion of Credit Norms for rearing Duck under the poultry subsector; inclusion of credit norms for cultivating Chia Seed, Teen Fruit, Sugarbit; inclusion of credit norms for cultivating Vietnamese Hybrid Coconut, Coffee and Sweet Corn; inclusion of credit norms for cultivating Sea Weed; inclusion of credit norms for cultivating Lobster under the fisheries subsector; inclusion of group loan disbursement for providing agricultural Credit to a bunch of farmers at a time easily and increased credit limit per acre for crop cultivation.

The Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Program for the FY 2022-2023 published by Bangladesh Bank will be helpful for the banks for financing the agricultural sector.

Bangladesh Bank also hopes that, it will make a significant contribution to agriculture and rural development.