ISLAMABAD: Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited on Thursday said the Public Accounts Committee had settled most of the audit paras worth Rs22.5 billion which were highlighted in the Finance Division’s Audit Report of FY2023-24.

The statement came after the PAC discussed a day before audit objections of the ministry of finance and the departments under it.

The ZTBL said the amount of Rs9.179bn represented a portfolio increase from Rs44bn to Rs53bn during FY-2022, primarily driven by floods of 2021 and 2022 and agriculture crisis following the Covid-19.

These outstanding amounts remained recoverable and were actively being pursued through structured recovery mechanisms. Following the establishment of a specialised recovery group and the implementation of administrative corrective measures, the SAM/charge-off portfolio had been reduced from Rs53bn to Rs45bn, a recovery of Rs8bn. Additionally, the number of charge-off borrowers had declined from 221,736 in 2022 to 182,819 in 2025, reflecting a reduction of 38,917 borrowers.

The ZTBL further said that the core mandate of the bank had always been to support subsistence farmers in vulnerable regions and the bank has this mandate since its inception. It clarified that the reported loss of Rs2.2bn across nine zones in 2022 had been converted into a profit of Rs341 million, reflecting a positive turnaround of Rs2.5bn.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026