Friday, July 22 2011 19:31
Ambassador of Germany: Armenia needs serious investments to considerably raise agriculture
ArmInfo. The German KfW Bank will provide Armenia with 15.7 mln EUR for agriculture crediting. German Ambassador to Armenia Hans-Johan Schmidt told ArmInfo that the given resources will be available in two months.
The ambassador said that the credit funds will placed in the market via the banks specializing in the sphere of agriculture financing, including ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and ProCredit Bank. Armenia needs serious investments to considerably raise agriculture, Schmidt said. He added that Germany is interested in maintaining this direction while cooperating with the Central Bank of Armenia.
According to the Ranking of Commercial Banks of Armenia by ArmInfo, as of 1 April 2011, the total portfolio of agricultural loans of the 21 commercial banks of Armenia amounted to approximately 60 billiob AMD or 5.5% of the total credit portfolio. The top three leaders by agriculture crediting includes ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and Ardshininvestbank. As regards ProCredit Bank, which entered the banking system of the country in 2008, is already on the list of top ten by agriculture crediting.