Economic Reporter :Bangladesh Bank has set the SME loan disbursement target for Tk1,13,503.43 crore through all the commercial banks in the current year 2016. The target is 8.53 per cent higher than the earlier target of Tk 1,04,586.89 crore for the year 2015.'We expected that the SME loan disbursement will be higher than that of the target set for the year 2015. We have increased the loan disbursement target for the SME sector as the banks focused their lending to this sector amid lack of demand for by industrial sector," said Swapan Kumar Roy, General Manager of SME and Special Programmes Department of Bangladesh Bank. He said this while addressing a press conference at the conference of Bangladesh Bank on Thursday. Though the overall credit growth remained in a slower pace, SME loan disbursement, however, witnessed an increased trend as banks were vigorously implementing their SME lending strategy, he explained.Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Nirmal Chandra Bhakta was present on the occasion.