Prolonged political blockade blocks agricultural credit operations

Disbursement and recovery of agricultural loan both took a tumble in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 mainly as the ongoing political turmoil almost stalled the operations, officials said Monday.
The bankers have faced difficulties in disbursing and recovering farm credits as the countrywide blockade and shutdowns continued since January 6 amid a political impasse over polls.
"We're facing difficulties for both disbursement and recovery of the agriculture loans because our officials cannot move freely at field level," a senior official of Bangladesh Krishi Bank told the FE.
He said they were trying to expedite disbursement activities in line with the central bank's advice to achieve the farm-loan- disbursement target by the end of the current fiscal year.
Disbursement of farm credits decreased by nearly 2.0 per cent to Tk 99.14 billion in the July-February period of the FY15 from Tk101.08 billion in the same period of the last FY, according to central bank statistics.
Of Tk 99.14 billion, six state-owned banks disbursed Tk 58.36 billion, and the remaining Tk 40.78 billion was disbursed by the private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
All the banks have achieved nearly 64 per cent of their annual agricultural loan-disbursement targets for FY15, fixed at Tk 155.50 billion.
On the other hand, the recovery of farm loan fell by more than 6.0 per cent to Tk 103.96 billion during the period under review from Tk 111.29 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the central bank has strengthened its efforts aimed at getting to the agriculture loan-disbursement target by the end of the FY.
As part of the move, the central bank is set to meet with senior officials of the commercial banks at districts, divisions and regional levels by the end of this month to expedite both disbursement and recovery of the farm-sector loan.
The BB has taken the latest move against the backdrop of declining trend in the farm-credit disbursement and recovery in the recent months.
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