Loan disbursement to SME sector has witnessed a sharp rise during the first six months of 2012 as banks and financial institutions disbursed a total of Tk 32,255 crore, up by Tk 6,092 crore or 24 per cent from the same period of the last year. During the January-July period of the current calendar year, banks pumped Tk 31, 453 crore while other financial institutions Tk 802 crore into the SME sector, according to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) data.

Accords to BB, small entrepreneurs have been given Tk 17,829 crore while medium entrepreneurs Tk 14,427 crore.
BB has set a target of disbursing Tk 59,000 crore as loan in the SME in 2012 as the government has attached a priority to expansion of the small and medium enterprises as part of its plan to cut poverty through creating employment opportunity.

Of the total amount, entrepreneurs in manufacturing sector got Tk 10,463 crore while service sector Tk 1,639 crore.  Credit worth Tk 1,234 crores went to the female entrepreneurs, up by Tk 252 crore from the last year’s Tk 982 crore.

“Banks and other financial institutions have channeled more credit to the small and medium entrepreneurs than the larger entrepreneurs following the BB’s advices..flow of credit to service and manufacturing sector is on rise,” BB’s SME and Specialized Programmes Department General Manager Sukomal Singha Chowdhury told BSS.

As the central bank has a plan to ensure the availability of loan for genuine SME entrepreneurs, the BB officials are supervising the loan disbursement at the filed level, he added.

“We encourage banks and other financial institutions to provide more credit to manufacturing sector because this sector creates jobs,” said Sukomal Singha.

News: Daily Independent/Bangladesh/28-Aug-12