Banks Disbursed Rs 598.3 B Agri Credit In FY16

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th August, 2016) : Banks have disbursed Rs 598.3 billion agricultural credit during the financial year FY16, which was almost 100% of the overall annual target of Rs 600 billion and 16% higher than the disbursement of Rs 515.9 billion made during FY15.

The number of farmers served by the banks also increased from 2.2 million to 2.4 million, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a statement on Monday. The SBP said the achievement of agricultural credit disbursement was an uphill task for agricultural lending institutions due to various financing issues and real side challenges like low production of major cash crops, especially cotton, climate change, price fluctuation of agri produce, marketing linkages gaps and high risk perception of banks about agri.

financing, etc. In addition to implementing various budgetary initiatives, SBP made concerted efforts for achieving the agri credit disbursement target set by the government. These efforts included provision of enabling regulatory environment, sensitizing banks to adopt agri.

financing as a viable business line, exploring new financing avenues including; agri value chain financing, warehouse receipts financing, execution of credit guarantee scheme for small and marginalized farmers and rigorous monitoring of banks' lending performance, the SBP added. The SBP was able to achieve this target through continued support of the government and the leadership role of Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra and Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmad through conducting regular performance review meetings with banks and other stakeholders, it added.

The Governor and Deputy Governor congratulated and thanked the CEOs/presidents of banks on meeting their targets and encouraged them to further enhance agriculture credit in view of the sector's contribution in economic growth, employment and exports.

The detailed review of banks' performance reveals that five major banks collectively disbursed agri loans of Rs 311.

4 billion or 101.9% of their annual target of Rs 305.7 billion which is higher by 18.4% from Rs 262.9 billion disbursed during the corresponding period last year.

Amongst the five major banks, NBP has not only surpassed its annual target by achieving 109.2% but also made a major contribution in overall target achievement. HBL achieved 102.4%, MCB 101.8% and UBL 100.4% of their respective targets; while ABL achieved 86.9 % of its annual target.

Under specialized banks, ZTBL disbursed Rs 90.97 billion or 89.2% of its annual target of Rs 102 billion while PPCBL disbursed Rs 10.3 billion achieving 82.7% of its target of Rs 12.5 billion during FY16. Fifteen domestic private banks as a group achieved 93.4% of their target.

Within this group, Summit, JS Bank, Bank Alfalah, Habib Metropolitan, Sindh Bank, Soneri and Bank of Khyber surpassed their annual targets. However, NIB bank achieved 94.3%, First Women Bank 87.5%, Bank Al Habib 88.5%, Standard Chartered 87.3%, Faysal 84.7%, Askari 83.9%, Silk 77.7% and Bank of Punjab achieved 43% of the annual target during the period under review.

Nine microfinance banks as a group surpassed their annual target of Rs 40.1 billion by disbursing agri loans of Rs 53.9 billion or 134.4% during FY16. NRSP Microfinance Bank, Khushhali, First Microfinance, Tameer, Mobilink Microfinance, U Microfinance, FINCA Microfinance and APNA Microfinance Bank surpassed their targets while Pak Oman achieved 84.4% of its annual target. Five Islamic banks as a group also surpassed their annual targets by disbursing Rs 8.5 billion against the target of Rs 7.9 billion.

Among the group, Meezan, Albaraka and Dubai Islamic Bank surpassed their annual during targets while Bankislami achieved 96.8 % of its annual target, whereas Burj Bank could achieve 40% of its target