ArmInfo. In Armenia, 70 million AMD will be allocated to subsidize available agricultural loans for procurement companies. On August 3, the Armenian government approved a program of affordable loans to representatives of the sphere.
According to the Minister, each year, as a result of the purchasing season of agricultural products, the debts of the procurement companies to the farmers of the republic are being formed. In addition, there is no practice in Armenia to conclude contracts between a farmer - a procuring company, which would specify the volumes and prices of purchased products. In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture has launched an initiative to introduce a new program of affordable lending to procurement companies, so far, in the pilot mode.
As part of the program, the funds saved by the Ministry of Agriculture in the amount of 70 million AMD will be spent on subsidizing. The total financing of the program will be 2.4 billion AMD, loans will be provided at 3% per annum for a period of 1 year. This will allow the introduction of a new culture of contractual relations between the farmer and the procuring company, since it is this condition that will act as the main one, and also make payments for supplies immediately on the spot. According to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, the program can be used by SMEs in the field of agroproduction purchases (the maximum amount of crediting will be 150 million AMD).
As ArmInfo reported earlier, as of July, Armenia's procurement enterprises from the accumulated for 2015- 2016. Debt of 1660.4 million AMD to farmers for fruit and vegetables remained 156 million.