The agro-based industrial credit disbursement decreased significantly in the first half of the current financial year due to a severe pressure of classified
loans in the banking sector, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
According to the BB data released on Thursday, disbursement of the agro-based industrial term loans by scheduled banks declined by 21.78 per cent in July-December of FY2012-13 against a 23.18 per cent rise in the same period of FY2011-12.
The banks disbursed Tk 1,375.74 crore in term loans to agro-based industries in July-December of the current financial year against Tk 1,758.81 crore in the first six months of FY2011-12. In July-December of FY2010-11, Tk 1,427.81 crore in term loans was disbursed to agro-based industrial units.
The country’s major agro-based industries include manufacturing of bread, biscuit and noodles, shrimp and other fish preservation, food processing from potato, salt, milk, tea and seed processing industries, biogas and power generation from husk and cow-dung, compost production, and preservation and jute-goods production.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the upward trend in default loan of the industrial sector had hit the loan disbursement in the agro-based sector.
A number of banks failed to disburse the expected loan to the agro-based industrial sector in the first half of FY2012-13 as they had to keep a big amount of provisions against their defaulted loan.
The classified loan in the industrial sector skyrocketed by 47.13 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year compared with that of the same period of FY 2011-12.
The BB data showed that the classified industrial loan stood at Tk 10,525.94 crore in the first six months of FY2012-13 against Tk 7,154.16 crore in the first six months of FY2011-12.
The contractionary monetary policy taken by the central bank for July-December term of 2012 also put a negative impact on the loan disbursement by the banks to the agro-based industrial sector, said another BB official.
Besides, the business people were reluctant to take loan in the period due to the power shortage and higher rate of interest on banks’ lending, he said.
The BB data showed that the growth in the overall agro-based industrial credit disbursement slowed in the first half of FY2012-13 compared with that of the same period of the previous financial year.
Disbursement of the agro-based industrial loans by banks and non-bank financial institutions grew by only 0.62 per cent in July-December of FY2012-13 against a 20.25 per cent rise in the same period of FY2011-12.
The banks disbursed Tk 10,631.71 crore in loans to agro-based industries in July-December of this financial year against Tk 10,566.35 crore in the first six months of FY2011-12. In July-December of FY2010-11, Tk 8,787.21 crore in loans was disbursed to agro-based industrial units.
BB general manager Sukumal Sinha Chowdhury told New Age that the central bank continued to try to increase the loan disbarment to the agro-based industrial sector.
He, however, expressed satisfaction over the increasing trend in loan disbursement on year-on-year basis in the sector.
-With New Age input
