BKB leads in agri credit among public sector banks, Islami Bank in pvt sect

The state-owned specialised Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) is in the leading position in setting target for providing agriculture credit among all the 56 banks operating across the country in the fiscal 2014-15. The BKB will distribute Tk 48 billion agriculture loan among the farmers in the current fiscal. This was mentioned in the ‘Agriculture and Rural Credit Policy and Programme for fiscal year 2014-15’ announced by Bangladesh Bank on July 21. The central bank has set the target of total agriculture credit at Tk 155.5bilion for the fiscal. Among the private banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) is leading the agriculture credit programme with a fund of Tk 7.9b. The IBBL is followed by AB Bank with Tk 2.7b, Exim Bank Tk 2.6b, Al Arafa Islami Bank Tk 2.51b, Prime Bank Tk 2.5b, UCBL Tk 2.5b, Pubali Bank Tk 2.35b, and National Bank Tk 2.3b. Among the state-owned commercial banks, Sonali Bank leads the target with a fund of Tk 11.8b while it is followed by the other three state-owned banks setting a target of Tk 7.5b by Janata Bank, Tk 6.6b by Agrani Bank, and Tk 1.5b by Rapuli Bank, according to a news agency.