Banks again miss loan target for import-replacing crops in FY16

Scheduled banks failed to achieve an aggregate target of loan disbursement to farmers involved in cultivating four types of import-replacing crops — pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize — in last fiscal year (2015-16) as they distributed 90.90 per cent of the annual target of Tk 90.07 crore.
The banks disbursed Tk 81.87 crore in loans to farmers involved in cultivating the import-replacing crops in FY16.
The BB set a lower loan disbursement target for FY16 as the banks also had failed to achieve their disbursement target in FY15. The banks had disbursed Tk 78.51 crore in FY15 against an aggregate annual target of Tk 95.46 crore.
A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the central bank had frequently asked the banks to stimulate their credit programmes for the crop producers, but they did not respond that much to the BB’s direction.
The banks are reluctant to disburse the loans as they usually earn comparatively less profit by distributing the loans to the marginal farmers.
Besides, the central bank’s initiative to force the banks to give the farmers loans has recently slowed down, he said.
The government set 4 per cent interest on the special agriculture credit to be disbursed for cultivation of pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize.
The government gives subsidy to the banks at the rate of 6 per cent so that they can get 10 per cent interest in total when they disburse the loans to the farmers at the rate of 4 per cent.
The country usually imports huge amount of pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize to meet local demand.
The loans are given to discourage import of the items and to reduce annual import payment, the BB official said.
The banks should take initiatives to disburse more loans for the four types of crops in the greater interest of the country’s economy, he said.
In FY16, the six state-owned banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, Bangladesh Development and BASIC — and two specialised banks — Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank — disbursed Tk 67.74 crore to farmers for the four crops against their annual target of Tk 75.68 crore.
The private commercial banks disbursed Tk 11.08 crore in FY16 against their annual target of Tk 10.79 crore. The disbursement amount was Tk 2.56 crore for the foreign commercial banks against their annual target of Tk 2.91 crore and Tk 48.80 lakh for newly-established nine commercial banks against their target of Tk 69 lakh.
In FY16, the banks disbursed Tk 1.43 crore to cultivate pulses, Tk 4.85 crore to cultivate oil seeds, Tk 66.93 crore to cultivate spices and Tk 8.64 crore to cultivate maize.
Loan disbursement by the banks to cultivate the four types of import-replacing crops also decreased by 2.65 per cent to Tk 78.51 crore in FY15 compared with that of Tk 80.65 crore in FY14, the BB data showed.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net