News Desk:

Bangladesh Bank has fixed its agriculture credit target at Tk 283.91 billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year to combat the adverse effects of the pandemic.

The target is 7.98 percent higher than the Tk 262.92 billion in the previous fiscal year, according to the Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Program announced on Thursday.

The disbursement target for state owned and specialised commercial banks is fixed at Tk 110.45 billion and the target for private and foreign commercial banks is fixed at Tk 173.46 billion.

This was done ‘considering the pandemic situation and the increased demand for agricultural and rural credit’, Bangladesh Bank said.

The announcement noted that commercial banks had disbursed Tk 255.11 billion of last year’s target, or approximately 97.03 percent. There were approximately 3,055,166 borrowers, 1,605,947 of whom were women.

By the government’s count, 2,245,512 small and marginal farmers received approximately Tk 173.64 billion from various banks. In particular, 7,796 farmers from chars, haors and less developed parts of the country received Tk 330.96 million.

Bangladesh Bank is also including several schemes in the new credit policy. These include credit norms for the rearing of Sonali hens, buffalo and Garol sheep, a reduction of the interest rate from 9 percent to 8 percent, allowing per acre credit limits to be increased or decreased up to 15 percent of the amount mentioned in credit norms, increasing the per acre credit for fish cultivation and new initiatives to supervise agricultural credit.

Bangladesh Bank also added that its Tk 50 billion refinance scheme to help mitigate damage from the pandemic has disbursed Tk 42.95 billion at the time it ended in June.