Positive trend in credit disbursement continues
- 18,684cr disbursed in 7 months despite target of 18,031cr taka
- 17,056cr taka was distributed during this same period of the previous fiscal
- State-owned RAKUB and BDBL exceeded the target in seven months
The government is emphasizing on agriculture to deal with the ongoing crisis. The central bank has strengthened the monitoring activities in the disbursement of agricultural loans so that the crop production of any farmer is not disrupted due to lack of money. As a result, the positive trend in disbursement of agricultural credit continues. Those concerned say that if this trend of agricultural loan disbursement continues, more loans will be disbursed than the target at the end of the year. In the seven months of the current fiscal year 2022-23 (July-January), the disbursement of agricultural loans is 18,684 crores, which is 60 percent of the annual target. 17 thousand 56 crores were distributed during the same period of the previous financial year. Bangladesh Bank has given this information in the updated report of agricultural loans of commercial banks.
In this regard, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Mejbaul Haque told Daily Post, "The central bank is monitoring the issue of agricultural loan distribution with utmost importance. Apart from providing regular guidance to the banks, the disbursement of agricultural loans has been supervised by visiting the departmental level. As a result of these activities, the desired target has been achieved. The target of agricultural credit in the current financial year is Tk 30 thousand 911 crore. Which was 28 thousand 391 crores in the previous financial year. The target is 18 thousand 31 crore 42 lakh taka in the seven months of July-January of the current financial year. And the commercial banks have distributed 18 thousand 684 crore 32 lakh taka. In other words, the banks operating in the country have exceeded the target in the distribution of agricultural loans. Of this, state-owned commercial banks distributed 7,478 crore taka in the previous year, 7,094 crore taka and domestic and foreign commercial banks distributed 11,206 crore taka. In the previous year, these banks distributed Tk 9,962 crore.
After reviewing the data, it can be seen that in the last seven months, 8 thousand 901 crores were distributed in the agricultural sub-sector, 155 crores were distributed to buy agricultural equipment, 129 crores were distributed to the purchase of agricultural equipment, 3 thousand 960 crores were distributed to animal and poultry sub-sectors, 2 thousand 272 crores were distributed to fisheries, grain stocks And 94 crore taka have been distributed in marketing. Apart from this, 1 thousand 103 crores have been distributed in non-farm sector for poverty alleviation and 2 thousand 70 crores in other sectors. According to Bangladesh Bank guidelines, 2 percent of the total loans disbursed by commercial banks are disbursed as agricultural loans. Apart from this, all the loans disbursed by Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank are disbursed as agricultural loans. Apart from this, NGOs registered with the Microfinance Institutions (NGOs) Regulatory Authority (MRA) disburse a major portion of agricultural loans. Commercial banks that do not have sufficient infrastructure to distribute loans in rural areas, distribute through NGOs. NGOs take funds from commercial banks at the rate of 8 to 9 percent and disburse them at the rate of 22 percent at the customer level. Apart from this, there are various agricultural loan schemes including incentive schemes, cow rearing loans, crop loans announced by the government to deal with the impact of the corona epidemic. These banks and NGOs disburse agricultural loans to small scale enterprises in crops, irrigation, agricultural machinery, livestock and poultry, fisheries, grain storage and marketing, poverty alleviation in rural areas. Every year the disbursement of agricultural credit increases along with the increase in disbursement of loans in the banking sector.
According to the latest report of Bangladesh Bank, a total of 56 banks, including eight state-owned commercial banks, eight foreign banks operating in Bangladesh, and 40 domestic commercial banks distribute agricultural loans.
State-owned Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and BDBL exceeded the target in seven months of the current financial year 2022-23. Among the foreign banks, Bank Al Falah, City Bank NA, Habib Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Standard Chartered Bank and State Bank of India met the target. The private commercial banks which have exceeded the target in disbursement of agricultural credit are Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Bank Asia, Bengal Commercial Bank, BRAC Bank, Dhaka Bank, Exim Bank, Jamuna Bank, Meghna Bank, Mercantile Bank, Midland Bank, NCC Bank, NRB Bank, One Bank. , Prime Bank, Pubali Bank, Border Bank, Trust Bank, United Commercial Bank and Uttara Bank. Foreign Uri Bank has not disbursed any agricultural loans in six months. Banks disbursing loans below 10 percent are Madhumati and Union Bank.
JH
