A file photo shows jute-made bags at a stall of an SME fair in Dhaka. Scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions failed to fulfil their target of SME loan disbursement in the first quarter of this year due to political and business uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. 

Scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions failed to fulfil their target of SME loan disbursement in the first quarter of this year due to political and business uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
According to the BB data released on Monday, the banks and the NBFIs disbursed 23.77 per cent SME loan amounting to Tk 21,053.41 crore in the first three months of 2014 against their annual target of Tk 88,537.24 crore.
A BB official told New Age on Monday that the banks and the NBFIs should have disbursed at least 25 per cent loan in the first quarter in accordance with their annual target.
The businesspeople have earlier adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach due to the political unrest which put an adverse impact on the SME loan disbursement.
The BB data, however, showed that the SME loan disbursement by the banks and the NBFIs had increased by 8.79 per cent in January-March of 2014 compared with that of the same period a year ago.
The banks and the NBFIs disbursed Tk 21,053.41 crore in the first three months of 2014 from Tk 19,351.99 crore during the same period of 2013.
The four state-owned banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — disbursed Tk 1,509.64 crore, or 27.33 per cent SME loan in the first three months of 2014 against their annual target of Tk 5,523.56 crore.
The private commercial banks disbursed Tk 17,893.76 crore, or 24.33 per cent SME loan in the first quarter of this year against their annual target of Tk 73,531.69 crore.
The BB data showed that the NBFIs had made a lower performance than the banks in the first three months of this year as they disbursed SME loan amounting to Tk 639.03 crore in the period against their annual target of Tk 2,939.91 crore.
BB SME and Special Programmes Department general manger Md Masum Patwary told New Age that the SME loan disbursement by the banks and the NBFIs had slightly decreased in the first quarter in accordance with the annual target due to the political unrest.
He, however, said that it was a good sign that the SME loan disbursement had increased in the first three months of this year than the corresponding period of 2013 despite the political unrest and business uncertainty.
He hoped that the SME loan disbursement would rebound strongly from the next quarter which would ultimately help fulfil the annual target set for the banks and the NBFIs.