Finance Ministry Writes Off EGP 167 Mln Debts Owed By 75,000 Farmers

The Ministry of Finance approved writing-off debts of about EGP 167 million owed by about 75,000 farmers, according to the president’s decree issued in the commemoration of sixth of October victory when he promised to exempt farmers who owe less than EGP 10,000.

Mohsen El-Batran, the chairman of the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit, said the debt is divided into two categories; the fist includes 71,000 farmers whose debts is less than EGP 10,000 each, totaling to EGP 107 million. The second category includes about 4,000 investors from North Sinai who owe EGP 60 million.

The bank will announce the customers who were exempted from debts by mentioning their names on lists hanged on the walls of the bank’s branches which exceeded 1200 branches.

The bank is currently conducting studies categorizing the rest of the debts into several segments as follows: from EGP 15,000 to EGP 20,000 segment, from EGP 20,000 to EGP 30,000 segment and from EGP 30,000 to EGP 40,000 segment. The bank will offer different solutions suitable for each case.