Dhaka, Jan. 28 -- Farm-credit disbursement dropped over 11 per cent to Tk162.59 billion in the first half of this fiscal year mainly as political uncertainty, floods and interest-rate hike harmed the crops sector, officials said.

The H1 disbursement of agriculture loans during the July-December period in the previous financial year (FY) 2023-24 was Tk183.26 billion, according to Bangladesh Bank's latest statistics.

Of the total, eight public banks lent Tk 71.38 billion and the remaining Tk 91.21 billion was disbursed by the private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs).

The central bank is set to give fresh instructions to the eight state-run banks today (Tuesday) for boosting their lending activities across the c...