MULTAN
\nThe State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has set a credit disbursement target for the agriculture sector at Rs1.7 trillion for the current fiscal year 2021-22, which is 21 percent higher than the previous financial year.
\nAccording to a statement issued on Monday, SBP Governor Dr Raza Baqir announced this while addressing the annual meeting of Agriculture Credit Advisory Committee.
\nHe lauded the performance of banks in achieving the unprecedented level of agriculture credit disbursement in FY21. He appreciated the fact that despite Covid-19 pandemic challenges, collective efforts of 50 financial institutions under ACAC guidance helped achieve 91 percent of the assigned target.
\nHe emphasised that banks leadership can now take this journey to the next level of qualitative improvement in agriculture credit in line with the strategic shift and key policy actions taken by SBP.
\nAnnouncing current year\u2019s agriculture credit target of Rs1.7 trillion with 5 million borrowers, the governor marked the insistent need to address quality of credit, its geographical imbalances and uneven distribution amongst different categories of borrowers.
\nOn the occasion, the SBP Governor announced two new measures to help boost agriculture financing. First, a comprehensive scoring model to rank banks according to key agriculture credit indicators and targets.
\nTo foster a competitive environment, the banks performing well will duly be recognized whereas under performing banks will be strongly encouraged to focus on metrics where improvement is needed. The second measure designates a bank volunteering to serve as a champion\/lead bank in an underserved province\/area.
\nFurther steps in this regard include establishing help desks in under served areas to facilitate farmers, and launching targeted and collaborative awareness drives for an extensive outreach. He concluded that SBP\u2019s vision will serve two-fold purposes; enhancing farmers financial inclusion while providing more lending opportunities to the banks.
\nUpon convening ACAC meeting in Multan, the governor especially highlighted the immense agricultural potential of the area and the opportunities in expanding agriculture finance. This was followed by a presentation on the performance of banks in agricultural financing.
\nBaqir said that various banks have approved loans worth Rs100 billion for the government housing schemes like \u201cMera Pakistan and Mera Ghar\u2019\u2019. He said that loans of Rs38 billion have been disbursed in this regard.
\nThe ACAC deliberated on the new directions in agricultural financing, particularly the climate smart agriculture practices and the role that financial institutions can play. Moreover, the committee also discussed avenues to enhance efficiency of existing agriculture credit infrastructure across the country.
\nIn the second session of ACAC, new and innovative ideas were presented by selected banks and other stakeholders in the area of i) value chain solutions, ii) electronic warehouse receipt financing, iii) digital loan origination system and iv) horticulture value chain financing. ACAC while approving the new ideas, set targets for scaling up pilot projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MULTAN The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has set a credit disbursement target for the agriculture sector at Rs1.7 trillion for the current fiscal year 2021-22, which is 21 percent higher than the previous financial year. According to a statement issued on Monday, SBP Governor Dr Raza Baqir announced this while addressing the annual meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-234095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n