Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited Released Rs 80 Billion Loans Among Farmers

The Chairman of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) Shaikh Amanullah Friday said the bank has met its targets and Rs 80 billion loans have been released to the farmers in the ongoing fiscal

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Apr, 2019 ) :The Chairman of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) Shaikh Amanullah Friday said the bank has met its targets and Rs 80 billion loans have been released to the farmers in the ongoing fiscal.

He was addressing a ceremony at the bank's zonal office in Latifabad here on Friday and also spoke to the media.

Amanullah said the purpose of ZTBL was to promote agriculture by financing small farmers.

He informed that under a joint venture with governments of Punjab and Azad Kashmir, the bank was also providing interest free loans to the farmers.

He added that under the venture the governments provide 16 percent mark up against the interest free loans to the banks.

"We have been negotiating with Gilgit Baltistan's government while the KPK's government has also shown interest," he told and expressed the wish that Sindh government also took interest in the venture.

Amanullah said the farmers in Sindh could also receive loans without having to pay the mark up if the provincial government entered into a similar venture with the ZTBL.

The Chairman informed that the bank had started to receive the Hajj application in addition to its existing services of profit finance and deposit finance.

He said the was negotiating with the Shariah board after which the ZTBL would soon launch the Islamic banking system and that it was also receiving Hajj applications he said the purpose of opening ATM machines was to ensure that the credit was available to the farmers round the clock.

Amanullah who earlier inaugurated an ATM machine at the bank's branch at Qazi Qayum road informed that out of 200 branches of ZTBL 30 had been equipped with the ATM machines.

He added that 20 more branches would get those machines by the end of 2019.

"We have prepared a security system with the help of NADRA to ensure that if the ATM card of a consumer is lost, it can't be used by anyone else," he apprised.

According to him, the ZTBL lent up to Rs2 million credit and that the bank's recovery stood at 99 percent.

However, he acknowledged that the recovery of loans faced certain problems in Sindh specially in Larkana division while the recovery was satisfactory in Hyderabad, Mirpurkahs and Nawabshah divisions.

He said so far agricultural credit amounting to Rs6 billion had been released in Sindh and the bank's receivables stood at around Rs7 billion.

Syed Aijaz Nabi Shah, a member of ZTBL's Board of Directors, said he wished that the bank reduced the mark up rate and allocate more credit for province of Sindh.

The Executive Director of ZTBL Iqbal Ahmed Abbassi and other officials also spoke on the occasion.