Governor of SBP appreciated that despite Covide-19, collective efforts of 50 financial institutions under ACAC guidance helped to disburse unprecedented Rs 1.4 trillion agricultural loans during the last fiscal year which is 91 percent of the assigned target.
A meeting of the Agriculture Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) Chaired by the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Baqir Reza took place in Multan on Monday. The meeting was attended by the senior officials of federal and provincial governments, presidents and CEOs of banks, members of provincial chambers of agriculture, leading farmers, and the officials of the central bank of the country.
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He pointed out the need for the comprehensive scoring model to rank banks according to key agriculture credit and targets. To foster a competitive environment, the bank’s performance will duly be recognized and banks that do not go up to the mark will be asked to take measures for the improvement. He said that the banks should voluntarily take lead to serve in an unattended province/area.
While talking about the agricultural loans target of Rs 1.7 trillion for the current fiscal year, the governor emphasized the need to address the quality of credit, its geographical imbalances, and uneven distribution among different borrowers.
In this direction, the banks could set up help desks there to facilitate farmers and start collective awareness drives efforts. During the address, the governor of SBP said that the central bank’s vision will help in enhancing farmers’ financial inclusion and providing more lending opportunities to the banks. He particularized the potential of Multan and its surroundings for more agriculture finances.
The presentation about the banks’ performance was given in the session. The ACAC discussed the opportunities to increase the efficiency of agriculture credit infrastructure all over the country. The presentations by different banks and stakeholders were given at the meeting, highlighting the area of value chain solution, electronic warehouse receipt financing, digital loan origination system, and horticulture value chain financing.
Agriculture Credit Advisory Committee gave the approval of the innovative ideas and fixed the targets for scaling up the pilot projects.
