Rs190bn farm credit disbursed

Karachi: Against the agriculture credit target of Rs380 billion for the fiscal year 2013-14, banks disbursed Rs190bn during July-January 2014 which is 50 per cent of the target, said the State Bank on Thursday.

The disbursement is 12pc higher than Rs169.4bn disbursed during the corresponding period last year.

The outstanding portfolio of agriculture loans increased by Rs40.1bn (17.2pc) ie from Rs232.7bn to Rs272.8bn at end January 2014 as compared to the same period last year.

The Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) in its meeting on Feb 17 approved an upward revision in the provisional agriculture disbursement target of Rs360bn to Rs380bn for FY 2013-14.

The revised target is 13pc higher than Rs336bn disbursed in 2012-13.

Accordingly, Rs188bn (49.5pc) have been allocated to five major commercial banks, Rs90.4bn (23.8pc) to 14 domestic private banks, Rs69.5bn (18.3pc) to ZTBL, Rs10bn to Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank, Rs21.6bn to seven microfinance banks and Rs0.5bn to three Islamic banks.

Five major commercial banks as a group disbursed agriculture loans of Rs98.7bn or 5pc of its annual target which is higher by 10pc from Rs89.6bn during the corresponding period last year.

Amongst major banks MCB achieved 57.3pc, HBL 56.7pc, NBP 55.4pc, UBL 43.8pc and ABL could manage only 41.6pc of their individual annual targets.