The farm credit disbursement grew by nearly 8.0 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2020-21, as the demand for such loans is picking up gradually due to seasonal effects.
The disbursement of the loans rose to Tk 141.49 billion in July-January period of FY '21 from Tk 131.04 billion in the same period of the previous FY, according to the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) latest statistics.
The central bank is persuading the banks continuously to achieve the agriculture loan target by the end of FY '21, officials said.
Of the total disbursements, eight state-owned lenders disbursed Tk 63.80 billion, and the remaining Tk 77.68 billion was disbursed by the private and foreign commercial banks.
The banks together achieved 53.81 per cent of their FY '21 disbursement target set at Tk 262.92 billion.
Also, the recovery of farm loans rose to Tk 160.56 billion during the period under review from Tk 135.28 billion in the same period of the previous FY.
However, the outstanding loans rose to Tk 443.22 billion in the first seven months of this FY from Tk 433.19 billion in the same period of FY'20, the BB data showed.
"The disbursement is expected to cross the target by the end of FY'21," Md. Ali Hossain Prodhania, managing director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB), told the FE.
He said the BKB always prefers to provide loans to the fresh borrowers along with existing ones to bring more unbanked people in the banking network.
"We've already strengthened our monitoring and supervision to expedite both disbursement and recovery of the farm credit," the senior banker said.
