Wednesday, June 1 2011 16:47
ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank beats the target of lending under government program of agricultural loan subsidizing
ArmInfo. ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank has provided loans in the amount of 7 bln drams under the government program of agricultural loan subsidizing.
ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank Director General Stepan Gishyan told ArmInfo the bank planned a total of 5 bln drams credit exposure under the program, but it beat the target thanks to the high seasonal demand. He thinks that the bank will increase the loan portfolio 10%-15% till the end of the year.
The government adopted a decision to subsidize 4 percentage points of the loans provided to farmers at the annual interest of 14%. Three banks started providing loans on April 1 (ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Ardshininvestbank and Converse Bank, later ProCredit Bank). The Government allocated 250 mln drams ($676 thousand) for subsidizing the interests on agricultural loans. The total credit exposure under the program will be nearly 10 bln drams. The upper ceiling of a loan is 2-3 mln drams and the maturity is 3 years with a 6-month grace period. The government selected 200 especially vulnerable villages with lowest living standards of the population and involved them in the project.
Ranking of Armenian Commercial Banks prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) says ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank took the first position in the market in terms of the loan portfolio as of April 1 2011 - 119.7 bln drams ($323.9 mln) or 71.7% of the bank's assets. The share of agricultural loans in total was 27.8% or 30.9 bln drams. The share of the bank in the summary agricultural loans of the banking system is nearly 52%.