BB field-level inspection of farm, SME loan disbursement from today

BB field-level inspection of farm, SME loan disbursement from today

Published : Sunday, 21 April 2013
Rezaul Karim

The central bank starts countrywide field-level inspection today (Sunday) for collecting info on problems and prospects of agriculture and small and medium enterprises, sources said.
The newly-appointed 44 assistant directors (ADs) of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) will make the field trip to get information on farmers and SME entrepreneurs with a view to observing credit disbursement programme of different banks as well as other information of the sectors, sources said Saturday.
Some 44 ADs in 19 groups will inspect farm and SMEs credit disbursement programmes in different upazilas of various districts across the country. The BB officials, now receiving training, will collect data during the field-level visit that will continue till April 25, 2013.
The BB teams will talk to the farmers, and the SME entrepreneurs, listen to their problems, explore possibilities and visit rural bank branches during the tour, he said.
The groups will visit specially the hub of handicraft and nakshikatha of Jamalpur, textiles of Narsingdi, Manipuri textiles of Moulvibazar and Syhlet, tiles industry of Satkhira and textiles of Rangamati.
The central bank believes such an initiative will help ensure successful implementation of agriculture and SME loan programmes.
The BB has set a target for local and foreign banks of disbursing Tk 141.3 billion loan for the current fiscal year. The target is 2.4 per cent higher than last year's Tk 138 billion.
On the other hand, the BB has set Tk 722.03 billion SME loan disbursement target for local and foreign banks and non-banking financial institutions for the current calendar year (2013).
The amount is 22.35 per cent more than that of the previous year (2012).
The BB also opened an inspection department at its headquarters to monitor distribution and use of farm and SME loans. The central bank formulated a new agricultural/rural credit policy in July last for fiscal 2011-12 for the banks to follow.