KARACHI: Banks disbursed Rs167.6 billion in agriculture loans during the first five months (July-Nov) of this fiscal year (FY15) compared to the disbursement of Rs117.4bn in the same period last year, an increase of 42.7 per cent, the State Bank said on Thursday.

The disbursement was 33.5pc of the annual target of Rs500bn.

The outstanding portfolio of agriculture loans increased by Rs36bn, from Rs266.8bn to Rs302.8bn at the end of November 2014 compared to the same period last year.

MCB Bank achieved 52.5pc of its annual target, UBL 45pc, HBL 41pc, ABL 31pc while NBP could achieve only 27.7pc of its target.

Among specialised banks, ZTBL disbursed Rs15.7bn (17.5pc) against its target of Rs90bn while PPCBL disbursed Rs2.1bn (18.2pc) against its target of Rs11.5bn during the period under review.

Moreover, domestic private banks like Bank Alfalah achieved 47.8pc; Faysal bank 47.7pc; Summit bank 44.7pc; Bank of Khyber 42.6pc; NIB bank 36.7pc; Silk bank 34.7pc; Bank Al Habib 32pc; Soneri bank 25.9pc; Bank of Punjab 21pc and Askari bank could achieve only 21pc of their annual targets. However, Standard Chartered bank disbursed Rs3.6bn against its annual target of Rs2.5bn for this fiscal year.

Seven microfinance banks collectively disbursed Rs7.6bn against their annual target of Rs28.2bn, while four Islamic banks disbursed Rs0.7bn against their target of Rs2.3bn.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014