The disbursement of farm loans by the banks witnessed an increase of 17 percent on year-on-year to stand at Rs 197.361 billion during first nine months of the current fiscal year, July-March FY12, said the central bank Monday. In absolute terms, the State Bank said, the disbursement of credit to the agriculture sector surged by over Rs 28.674billion during the period under review as compared to total disbursement of Rs 168.687 billion in the corresponding period of FY11.
The overall credit disbursement by five major commercial banks including Allied Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank Limited stood at Rs 107.640 billion in July- March, 2012 compared with Rs 93.268 billion disbursed in July- March 2011 depicting an increase of Rs 14.372 billion or 15.41 percent. Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, the largest specialized bank, disbursed a total of Rs 37.844 billion in July- March, 2012, up by 1.26 percent when compared with Rs 37.371 billion disbursement in the same period of the last fiscal year. Punjab Provincial Co-operative Bank Limited disbursed Rs 6.012 billion in July- March, 2012 up 36.82 percent when compared with Rs 4.394 billion disbursement in the same period of the last fiscal year. Fourteen domestic private banks also loaned a combined amount of Rs 37.338 billion in July- March, 2012 up by 10.95 percent compared with Rs 33.654 billion disbursement in the same period of the last fiscal year. The five microfinance banks, including Khushhali Bank, NRSP Microfinance Bank, First Microfinance Bank, Pak Oman Microfinance Bank and Tameer Microfinance Bank disbursed a total of Rs 8.527 billion.