Parliament initially approves restructuring Egypt’s state agricultural bank

The agricultural and economic affairs committees in the Egyptian parliament have given their initial approval on Sunday to a proposal of restructuring the country’s state agricultural lender, PBDAC.

The committees agreed on reviewing the details related to restructuring the bank later.

Earlier in February, Egyptian central bank governor Tarek Amer said Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC) would be restructured and brought back under the supervision of the country’s central bank.

The PBDAC is currently under the jurisdiction of the ministry of agriculture and not the central bank.

“The President and the Prime Minister…and the Minister of Agriculture have agreed for the agricultural bank to return under the umbrella and the supervision of the Central Bank,” said Amer.

“Restructuring the bank means to fix the current situation and halt its continuous losses, which reached 5.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($597 million) … all banks are under the jurisdiction of the central bank so ought to PBDAC.” El-Sayed El-Kosayer, PBDAC chairman, said.

El-Kosayer further said the new restructuring law would not mean not to continue serving and favouring the farmers, explaining that being under the jurisdiction of the central bank would not end the bank’s specialty.