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4 years ago

Fisheries ministry requests BB to involve local agri credit committees in loan disbursement

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The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has requested the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to involve its existing district- and upazila-level agricultural credit committees in disbursing loans to marginal farmers and entrepreneurs in the sector affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

The ministry made the request on Sunday in a letter to BB Governor Fazle Kabir, signed by Rawnak Mahmud, secretary of the ministry of fisheries and livestock, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the letter, the ministry called for the disbursement of loans under the Tk 50-billion (Tk 5,000 crore) refinancing scheme announced by the Prime Minister for the purpose of providing working capital for the agricultural sector.

The ministry said in the letter that the marginal farmers would benefit from the involvement of local administration and the fisheries and the livestock department officials in the loan disbursement programme.

According to the information received from the marginal stage, the central bank has announced the policy of formulating and managing the refinancing scheme, but the marginal and small farmers and entrepreneurs are not getting necessary information and cooperation from local banks in this regard, the ministry added.

There are doubts about the distribution of loans while the affected farmers and entrepreneurs are getting frustrated to this effect, the ministry pointed out.

Under the circumstances, the ministry has taken the initiative to involve local agricultural loan committees for the convenience of real farmers, farms and entrepreneurs to get soft loans, it noted.

If real farmers and entrepreneurs are deprived of the credit facilities, the fisheries and livestock sector will be severely affected and will not be successful, the ministry added.

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