Teleconference on concessional lending

At the end of the previous week Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev held a teleconference with 85 regions and banks devoted to new ways of support taking into consideration the consolidation of subsidies and concessional lending.

“The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has prepared the necessary regulatory framework and allocated funds to AIC support. This year the regions will receive 158.2 billion rubles for support of agriculture, which is by 5 billion rubles more than it was last year”, - reported Alexander Tkachev.

Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation noted that owing to new support mechanisms regions will be able to accolade funds quicker without waiting for the federal budget adjustment. This is a long-awaited change which was welcomed by the majority of regions. However, for the mechanism to start functioning, regions also should accept the regulatory framework quickly.

“The task for regions is to conclude agreements on agricultural support with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation before February 15, 2017. We are keeping the issue under strict control”, - said the minister.

At the session the quick work of a number of regions was worth mentioning, they are: the Bryansk Region, the Kirov Region, the Moscow Region, the Tomsk Region, the Amur Region, the Krasnodar Territory, the Republics of Tatarstan, Mordoviya and Yakutiya, and a number of others. In total, about 20 regions showed quick results.

“Taking into account the great interest of banks, regions and agricultural producers, we see that the mechanism is in high demand and very profitable for agricultural business. These are unique terms on the state support which are very attractive for everybody now. 21.3 billion rubles are allocated from the budget to the state support”, - reported Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

The following representatives of the Republic of Tatarstan took part in the session: Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan – Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Akhmetov, Deputy Ministers Rishat Khabipov, Ildus Gabdrakhmanov, specialists form the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as bank representatives – AO “Rosselkhozbank”, PAO Bank VTB, PAO “Sberbank”, AO “Gazprombank”, PAO “Promsvyazbank”.

During the session Minister of Agriculture and Food the Republic of Tatarstan reported that there was a need for over 20 billion rubles for the spring field work in the republic, where 8.5 billion rubles would be borrowed funds. 38 enterprises have applied to AO “Rosselkhozbank” and PAO Bank VTB (the total amount of money asked is 7.8 billion rubles) and 2 enterprises have heard favourably from the banks (AO “Zelenodolsk dairy complex” and OOO “Zainsk sakhar”).

Marat Akhmetov paid special attention of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation to the lack of subsidies for spring field work in Tatarstan. A lot of agricultural producers of the republic can stay without support and will have to take loans at high interest rates, which will take a toll on timely and proper sowing campaign as well as on financial stability of agricultural enterprises.