The scheduled banks disbursed Tk 42,834.16 crore in agricultural and rural credit in the just-concluded fiscal year 2025-26, exceeding the central bank's annual target of Tk 39,000 crore (9.83 percent), according to a monthly report released by Bangladesh Bank (BB).
The report, titled "Monthly Report on Agricultural and Non-Farm Rural Credit Position" and prepared by the Agricultural Credit Department-1 (Monitoring and Oversight Wing) of the central bank, shows disbursement through 58 participating banks rose 14.76 percent compared to Tk 37,326.52 crore disbursed in FY2024-25.
Including Tk 1,334.22 crore disbursed by the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), the total agricultural credit flow for FY26 stood at Tk 44,168.38 crore, up 13.97 percent from Tk 38,754.26 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Target achievement by bank category:
Specialised banks – Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and Probashi Kallyan Bank – posted the highest target achievement at 123.40 percent, disbursing Tk 12,615.57 crore against a target of Tk 10,223 crore.
State-owned commercial banks achieved 109.89 percent of their Tk 3,657 crore target, disbursing Tk 4,018.62 crore, while foreign commercial banks reached 104.05 percent of their Tk 1,593 crore target with disbursement of Tk 1,657.46 crore.
Private commercial banks, the single largest contributor to overall disbursement, achieved 108.05 percent of their Tk 17,106 crore target, disbursing Tk 18,483.19 crore, which alone accounted for 43.15 percent of the year's total agricultural credit.
Islamic banks were the only category to fall short of their target, disbursing Tk 6,059.32 crore against a target of Tk 6,421 crore, an achievement rate of 94.37 percent and a 1.50 percent decline from the previous year.
Under the Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Programme for FY26, banks were required to disburse 55 percent of credit to the crops sector, 20 percent to livestock and poultry, 13 percent to fisheries, 2 percent to irrigation and agricultural equipment, and the remaining 10 percent to non-farm rural income-generating activities.
Actual disbursement, however, showed a somewhat different pattern: crops received 47.32 percent of total disbursement, livestock and poultry 26.38 percent, fisheries 13.33 percent, non-farm rural credit 11.68 percent, and irrigation and agricultural equipment combined just 0.93 percent. A further 0.37 percent went to grain storage and marketing.
Loan recovery outpaces disbursement growth:
Recovery of agricultural loans grew faster than disbursement during the year, rising 19.99 percent to Tk 45,626.93 crore from Tk 38,024.50 crore in FY25. Amounts due for recovery also rose 9.37 percent to Tk 66,025.75 crore.
Overdue loans fell 8.43 percent year-on-year to Tk 19,807.33 crore, while classified agricultural loans declined 5.92 percent to Tk 18,578.47 crore, offering some relief after a sharp jump in both categories during FY25.
Foreign commercial banks reported zero overdue and zero classified loans in both fiscal years, while Islamic banks saw their overdue loans surge 73.11 percent and classified loans nearly two-and-a-half times higher, the only category to see a rise in both indicators.
Outstanding agricultural credit across all bank categories stood at Tk 63,574.38 crore at the end of FY26, up 5.55 percent from Tk 60,232.42 crore a year earlier.
Month-wise figures show disbursement fluctuated through the year, peaking in December 2025 at Tk 4,915.49 crore before falling sharply in the following months. Disbursement picked up again in June 2026, the final month of the fiscal year, rising 29.47 percent from May to close the year at Tk 4,757.55 crore for the month.
The Bangladesh Rural Development Board disbursed Tk 1,334.22 crore in agricultural credit in FY26, 6.55 percent lower than its Tk 1,427.74 crore disbursement in FY25, against a target of Tk 1,486.10 crore. Recovery through BRDB, however, rose 2.71 percent to Tk 1,311.23 crore.
BB data going back to FY2016-17 shows agricultural credit disbursement has more than doubled over the past decade, from Tk 20,998.70 crore to Tk 42,834.16 crore, alongside a steady rise in the annual disbursement target, which has grown from Tk 17,550 crore to Tk 39,000 crore over the same period.
The report noted that the agriculture sector continues to contribute 11.71 percent to Bangladesh's GDP and employs around 46 percent of the country's workforce, underlining its centrality to food security and rural livelihoods even as the sector faces mounting pressure from climate change and shrinking arable land.
The central bank's report cautioned that despite the positive overall disbursement picture, the continued scale of overdue and classified loans "compels" close attention to recovery and default management to sustain healthy agricultural financing going forward.