Banks disbursed Tk1,509cr in agri loans in July
The country’s total farm and non-farm rural credits stood at Tk44,835 crore at the end of July
Banks disbursed Tk1,509 crore in farm and non-farm rural credits in July–the first month of the current fiscal year–according to the central bank's data.
The amount was 64 percent lower than the previous month's total lending to the agriculture sector of Tk4,198 crore.
However, July's advance to the sector this fiscal year was 54 percent higher than the amount given out in the same month last fiscal year. In July last year, banks disbursed Tk977 crore in farm and non-farm rural credit.
The Bangladesh Bank data also revealed the agri credit disbursement in July this year was 5.73 percent of the total lending target for fiscal year 2020-21.
The central bank, on July 27, declared the banks' target to lend Tk26,292 crore to the agriculture sector in the current fiscal year, which was nine percent higher from the previous fiscal year's target.
However, banks did not meet last fiscal year's lending target, and bankers blamed the Covid-19 outbreak and floods for this. Last fiscal year, banks gave Tk22,749 crore in farm and non-farm rural credits.
Meanwhile in July, banks were able to collect Tk2,279 crore from the previously-disbursed agri credit.
On July 24, the Bangladesh Bank instructed banks not to collect loan instalments from recently flood-affected farmers until the situation normalised.
At the end of July, the country's total farm and non-farm rural credits stood at Tk44,835 crore, according to the Bangladesh Bank's data.
To enhance agricultural production during the pandemic, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a Tk5,000 crore stimulus package to provide low-cost loans to the sector. From that fund, farmers are getting agri-loans at a four percent interest rate.
However, the central bank is not satisfied with the disbursement under the package because banks–since the fund's inception in April, till July–had disbursed around Tk500 crore, a senior official of the central bank told The Business Standard.