Farm loan disbursement posted a 14.74-per cent growth in eight months of the current financial year of 2015-16 compared with that in the same period of FY15.
Banks disbursed Tk 11,376.42 crore in farm loans in the July-February period of FY16 against Tk 9,914.10 crore in the same period of FY15.
Bangladesh Bank officials said banks grappling with surplus liquidity amid dull business situation showed increased interest in disbursing agriculture credit.
Thirteen scheduled banks, however, disbursed below 40 per cent of their annual targets of loan disbursement to farmers in eight months of this fiscal year.
The 13 banks are National Bank of Pakistan, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Bank Al-Falah, Farmers Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Dhaka Bank, Modhumoti Bank, NRB Commercial Bank, NRB Global Bank, Prime Bank, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank, Union Bank and First Security Islami Bank.
Of them, National Bank of Pakistan, Commercial Bank of Ceylon and Bank Al-Falah did not disburse any farm loan in the period.
The BB will take punitive action like the previous years against the banks which will not take required steps to speed up farm loan disbursement programmes, said the officials.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the banks’ farm loan disbursement increased in eight months of the current financial year as banks were now holding surplus liquidity after the country’s businesspeople had adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach while making fresh investment amid the ongoing political uncertainty.
The official said due to a sluggish trend in the industrial sector credit growth the banks were trying to invest significant amount of fund in the government securities with a lower interest rate of 3.49-8.20 per cent.
But, the government is now accepting limited amount of bids in line with its auction calendar that frustrates the banks as they fail to invest their fund in the T-bills and bonds.
Against the backdrop, the central bank at an internal meeting on December 2, 2015 decided to ask the banks to take more initiatives to increase disbursement of farm loans to boost the private sector credit growth.
In eight months of the FY16, the eight state-owned commercial and specialised banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC, BDBL, Bangladesh Krishi and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan — together disbursed Tk 5,809.94 crore in farm loans. The amount is 62.54 per cent of their annual farm loan disbursement target of Tk 9,290 crore.
The private and foreign commercial banks together disbursed Tk 5,566.48 crore in agriculture loans in July-February of FY16. The amount is 78.29 per cent of their total annual farm loan disbursement target of Tk 7,110 crore.
Source: New Age
