Friday, February 2 2018 19:04

ArmInfo. Deputy Minister of  Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan, Ph.D. Director of the Office for the  Implementation of the Agricultural Development Program Vahe  Harutyunyan, Chief Executive Officer of the UCC "Farm Credit Armenia"  Armen Gabrielyan and Deputy Chief Executive of Armswissbank Grigor  Hovhannisyan signed a memorandum on cooperation in subsidizing  interest rates on loans for intensive fruit and berry gardens using  advanced technologies, to install drip irrigation systems and  anti-hail grids.

According to the press service of the department, Harutyunyan noted  that anti-hail nets will protect the gardens 100%, and drip  irrigation systems will allow you to spend about 50% less water.

For his part,  Harutyunyan noted that, as expected, the financial  structures to the program are of high interest. "Geography is  expanding, and this will allow farmers to use the services of various  companies," he said. Hovhannisyan stressed: "We can not stay away  from initiatives that are aimed at the economic development of  Armenia." "The signed memorandum will provide an opportunity to  provide members of the cooperative with a new loan instrument,"  summed up Gabrielyan.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia,  under the program of subsidizing interest rates on loans for the  installation of anti-hail grids, loans will be issued with a maturity  of up to 7 years, at a rate of up to 14% per annum, which will allow  the granting of a loan to the client at a rate of 2%.  Under the  program of subsidizing interest rates on loans for the establishment  of intensive fruit and vegetable gardens of 0.5-10 hectares,  processed using advanced technologies, loans will be issued with a  maturity of up to 7 years, at a rate of 5% per annum. Under the  program of subsidizing interest rates on loans for the installation  of drip irrigation systems, loans will be issued with a maturity of  up to 3 years, at a rate of up to 14% per annum, subsidizing which  will provide the client a loan at a rate of 2%.

In January 2018, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and INECOBANK joined these  state programs.

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks, prepared by  ArmInfo News Agency , the volume of agricultural loans as of October  1, 2017 reached 147.8 billion AMD or $ 309 million with an annual  decline of 4.4%, and only 9 months of 2017 - 2%. ACBA-Credit Agricole  Bank acts as the unchallenged leader in agricultural loans, covering  47% of the total amount (or 69.5 billion drams), while Armswissbank  accounts for more than 4% or 6.3 billion AMD (with an annual growth  of 10.5%). According to this indicator, Armswissbank retains the 5th  position. According to the Ranking of Armenian credit companies  prepared by IC ArmInfo, the credit portfolio of the UCC "Farm Credit  Armenia" reached 10.1 billion AMD by January 1, 2018 (with an annual  growth of 24.6%), ranking the 10th among the Armenian CCM.