LOANS extended by banks to the agriculture and agrarian reform sector grew by 10.83 percent in the first nine months of 2019, but continued to fall short of the mandated threshold, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed on Thursday.

The banking system had set aside P714.49 billion as funds for the sector in January-September, a P69.85-billion increase from P644.63 billion in the same period in 2018.