Agricultural lending rose to a staggering Rs 1.2 trillion as banks failed to meet their target for agricultural credit for the financial year 2018-19.
This happened despite a higher amount being distributed compared to last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). According to the central bank, banks made disbursements of Rs 1.174 trillion or 94 percent against the target of Rs 1.25 trillion set by the Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee.
The agriculturally geared disbursements were 21 percent higher this year than they were last year, when they had amounted to Rs 972.6 billion. The SBP said that the existing agri-portfolio increased to Rs 562.4 billion by the end of June and had grown by as much as 20 percent compared to last year’s 469.4 billion.
