HYDERABAD, March 23: State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain has directed the agriculture advisory committees to visit all the district headquarters and hold meetings with bank representatives to ensure timely and smooth flow of financial credit to the agriculture sector.

He was addressing growers and regional heads of commercial banks at the State Bank here on Monday. The central bank governor who reviewed the working of commercial banks with particular reference to operation of agriculture credit advised the banks not to refuse loans to growers on flimsy grounds.

He directed all banks that they must display information about granting loans on the notice board as well as the time frame so that the browsers should know the requirements of the banks before applying for the agriculture loan.

He said banks should not ask for more than what they have notified. The State Bank governor said a copy of bank requirements should be sent to agriculture credit advisory committees, agriculture organizations and the State Bank.

He warned that if banks did not follow the instructions, the State Bank would ask the leasing companies to come forward and perform the task. Replying to memorandum presented by Chamber of Agriculture president Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah on the problems of growers in respect of agriculture credit, he said all possible steps would be taken to resolve their problems.

The chamber of agriculture drew the attention of bankers and the State Bank governor that the growers' credit limit should be established by the banks for revolving credit (running finance) and they might be allowed to draw any amount of money within that limit and repay the same within the time frame.

He said the past practice was that the growers were not entitled to get fresh loans unless they had cleared the previous amount. The chamber also drew the attention of the governor that the relief announced by the prime minister and Sindh chief minister time and again was not followed by covering notification.

The State Bank governor said the bank was already seized of this issue and asked the government to take the State Bank into confidence at the time of announcing any relief.

He expressed his satisfaction over the working of the commercial banks except the ZTBL which was not working upto the expectation of then State Bank and the growers.

Dr Hussain attended a reception, hosted by the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday and heard the problems of the business community with regard to credit facilities.

Later talking to newsmen, he said the foreign loans had come down from 38.5 billion dollars to 35 billion dollars. He said in the past, 60 to 66 per cent of country's revenue had to be paid towards foreign loans and added that this has now come down to 30 to 32 per cent. He said the country's exports had increased by 20 per cent due to the positive policies of the government.