Farm credit disbursement grew by more than 7.0 per cent in the first eight months of fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 as demand for such loan picks up for seasonal effects.
Disbursement rose to Tk 161.81 billion in the July-February period from Tk 150.92 billion in the same period of FY '20, disclosed the latest data of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
"We're working continuously to achieve the agriculture loan disbursement target by the end of FY '21," a senior BB official told the FE.
As part of the move, BB seniors are scheduled to meet eight state-owned banks by the last week of March to review the state of disbursement and recovery, he said.
They are Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, BASIC Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank.
Of the Tk 161.81 billion, the eight state lenders disbursed Tk 73.32 billion.
Private commercial banks and foreign commercial banks loaned the remaining Tk 88.49 billion.
Meanwhile, all banks achieved 61.54 per cent of the current fiscal year's agri-loan disbursement target of Tk 262.92 billion.
Also, loan recovery rose to Tk 174.92 billion during the period under review from Tk 155.08 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Outstanding farm credit rose to Tk 450.53 billion in the first eight months of FY '21 from Tk 433.15 billion in the same period of FY '20, the BB showed.
"The exiting uptrend in agriculture loan disbursement is expected to continue until June 2021," BKB managing director Md Ali Hossain Prodhania told the FE.
Predicating possible farm credit disbursement trend in future, he said disbursement is likely to cross the target by the end of FY '21.
The BKB has already strengthened its monitoring and supervision with an eye to expediting both disbursement and recovery of farm credit, according to Mr Prodhania.