ArmInfo. From now on, Armenian farms will attract agricultural loans at a rate of 5% annually, Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Ignaty Arakelyan reported on July 10 at a press conference.
According to the Minister, state program on subsidizing interest rates of agricultural loans in Armenia will be expanded. From August to September 2017, loans under the state program will be issued at the same 14% per annum, of which 9% will be subsidized by RA Government, versus former 6% The Government also decided to increase the amount of subsidies and revise the ideology of funding. Previously, maximum amount of subsidies was 3 million AMD for a period of 2 years. Under the new conditions, the amount has been increased to 10 million AMD, while maintaining the previously approved amount of financing subsidies. At the same time, loans will be provided only to those farmers who will present the business project. "As a result, it is expected that the program will help those farmers who really want to develop their economy," the Minister said.
The head of Ministry of Agriculture accepted that, based on the results of innovations, the circle of beneficiaries of the program is narrowing. However, according to the minister, this will not only increase the efficiency of the program, but also make the sphere more profitable, and the farmer - more creditworthy.
As ArmInfo informed earlier, Armenian Government will allocate 1,100 million AMD for subsidizing the interest rate on agricultural loans from April 1 to December 31, 2017. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2011-2016 the country's farms were given 119.4 thousand available agricultural loans for 99.1 billion AMD (about $ 203 million).The subsidized amount was about 4.7 billion AMD.