ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research has recommended that the Rs6.5 billion loans provided to agriculturists in Balochistan should be written off.

The committee made the recommendation at a meeting chaired by MNA Malik Shakir Bashir Awan on Friday.

The president of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), Syed Talat Mehmood, told the meeting that the loans had been stuck for the last several years.

With the consent of the members, Mr Awan ruled that the outstanding amount be written off immediately.

He asked the ministry concerned to sanction additional funds for the ZTBL so that it could provide more loans to the farmers of Balochistan.

The committee also asked the government to increase budgetary allocation for the ZTBL, keeping in view the state of the province’s agriculture sector.

It proposed that the facility of soft loans should be extended to orchard farmers, particularly in the northern areas. It also asked the ZTBL to curtail its administrative expenses so that adequate relief could be provided to the farmers.

The committee discussed the ZTBL’s total budgetary allocation along with the share of each province for fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Mr Mehmood told the committee that his bank was not only delivering financial products but also providing technical services to the farming community on competitive and sustainable basis. The ZTBL provided the largest institutional agricultural disbursement of Rs77.9bn which was 20 per cent of the total agriculture loans in the country, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play