ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: The Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTBL) will disburse Rs34 billion loans among the farmers for boosting production during the fiscal year 2003-04, a source said.

The bank has made disbursement of Rs30 billion during 2002- 03 compared to Rs29 billion in 2001-02.

The ZTBL president, Istaqbal Mehdi, said the recovery had been registered at Rs33 billion in 2002-03, showing an improvement over the year 2001-02 when it was Rs29 billion, he added. He said the restructuring plan had started yielding positive impact on the bank’s performance enabling it to enhance its lending capacity.

The ZTBL president said: “As our financial position has improved now we want more people and borrowers for disbursement of money for enhancing their productivity in the agriculture sector.

“We are paying special attention on fulfilment of small farmers’ requirements as they deserve most and their recovery rate is also good.”

After its restructuring the bank announced a three per cent reduction as incentive to farmers who paid their two consecutive loan instalments in time.

Similarly, the bank reduced the mark-up rate from 14 per cent to 11 per cent in accordance with the government’s policy to provide maximum benefit to the farmers and to inculcate timely repayment behaviour, he added.

Mr Mehdi said the bank’s efficiency would greatly improve following the full implementation of the plan by 2005.

After the restructuring plan, the golden handshake scheme was launched under which 1,500 employees opted for retirement whereas another 500 were under process while voluntary retirement would help reduce considerable burden of wages.

He said the operation plan had made the bank stronger and about 350 staff members were provided necessary training in the field of cash, MAO and account assistance to effectively handle the situation. Besides, he said, the bank was launching a scheme for recruitment of qualified workforce to reinforce credit delivery and recovery mechanism.

Moreover, the bank will induct 500 people on the recommendations of well-reputed educational institutions and universities.

Regarding bad debt, he said loans amounting to Rs5 billion had been written off in accordance with the different packages announced by the government since 1999.—PPI