Banks grant 1mln euro funds to Romanian farmers, through European Investment Fund

A total of 13 loans worth about 1 million euro were granted by the end of February 2019 through the European Investment Fund (EIF), informs a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), submitted to AGERPRES on Friday.

According to the quoted source, MADR and EIF signed the "Financing Agreement for the Implementation of the Financial Instrument" in November 2017, and in 2018 the Fund finalized the process of selection of the financial intermediaries and concluded Operating Agreements with five banks: the Romanian Commercial Bank, Libra Internet Bank, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit Bank.

The banks selected under the financial instrument granted the first loans, while being permanently involved in training the personnel and adjusting the internal procedures to the investment priorities established by the National Rural Development Program (PNDR).

On 21 March 2019, a working meeting was held between representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Investment Fund, under the coordination of Secretary of State Teodora Gabriela Gheniu. The meeting aimed at assessing the stage and the progress made in implementing the risk-sharing loan financed from the National Rural Development Program.

During the talks, the EIF representatives noted that the financial institutions in the market received with interest this lending facility addressed to farmers and businesses in rural areas.

In their turn, the MADR representatives expressed their willingness to work with EIF representatives and those of the selected financial institutions to facilitate the potential beneficiaries' access to the loan products co-financed from the EAFRD - the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development