Parliament approves law moving Agriculture Bank under CBE’s authority

The Egyptian parliament approved a law that would oversee the transfer of authority over the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC) on Tuesday. “The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will have the full authority over PBDAC,” said the PBDAC’s chairperson Elsayed Elkosayer.

Elkosayer told Daily News Egypt, that the parliament approval of this law and transferring the bank under the CBE authority, rather than under the Ministry of Agriculture, will prove to be beneficial and the bank will return to its main role which is supporting the Egyptian farmers.

“The move will help the bank in restructuring management and stemming the losses over the past few years, which led to the erosion of the bank’s capital,” said Elkosyer. “It will help the bank to provide a variety of products and services to serve the farmer and his family.”

He explained that, this move would give the bank a better chance in negotiations with local and international financial institutions, in order to obtain loans with special interest rates. This would allow the bank to return to lending farmers at low interest rates, along with the possibility of acquiring a loan from the CBE to support the bank’s capital, like what happens with other banks that face the same circumstances.

Source: Daily News Egypt