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Albania signs agreement on agriculture financing with ERBD

Xinhua, January 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Albania and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Monday signed an agreement on innovative agriculture financing program designed to improve financial access and increase lending to agriculture sector through a joint guarantee fund.

Albanian Minister of Agriculture Edmond Panariti, together with the Minister of Finance Shkelqim Cani, and the Head of the EBRD Tirana Office, Christoph Denk, signed the agreement during a ceremony at the Ministry of Agriculture in Tirana.

Panariti declared that the agreement brought into being one of the most important government policies to enhance agricultural lending and turn this sector into a growth locomotive of Albanian economy.

Expressing gratitude to EBRD for this institution's assistance and financial support for Albania, Panariti said that the guarantee fund will be a powerful mechanism to guarantee favorable crediting conditions for agricultural sector.

"The guarantee fund will provide a fresh impetus to foster investments in agricultural sector," stated Panariti, adding that the new lending instrument will also support Albania's agricultural sector to significantly boost export.

The guarantee fund is designed to improve financial access to the commercial banks for the country's agricultural sector through a 15 million euros (16.3 million U.S. dollars) fund provided by the Albanian government and EBRD.

Cani noted that government places high priority to the development of the country's agriculture in 2016.

"With the signing of the innovative agriculture financing program we expect to make a significant step forward in terms of enhancing outreach of agriculture credit and supporting agriculture sector since around 50 percent of population is engaged in agriculture," said Cani.

In his remark, Christoph Denk, the Head of the EBRD Tirana Office, concluded that the main objective of the agreement was to improve financial access for agriculture projects through competition and financing cost cutting. Endit