Sisi issues law naming PBDAC to Egyptian Agricultural Bank

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued late Sunday a decree to rename state-owned agricultural lender the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC) to the Egyptian Agricultural Bank.

Egyptian parliament approved earlier this month has ratified a decree to change PBDAC to the Egyptian Agricultural Bank and to put it under the supervision of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) rather than the Ministry Agriculture.

Under the presidential decree, the bank will guarantee agricultural policies that will continue to serve farmers.

Earlier in February, central bank governor Tarek Amer announced that PBDAC would be brought back under the supervision of the Central Bank and would be restructured.

“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.

PBDAC chairman El-Sayed El-Kosayer told reporters earlier this month that the move would 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. It would also help provide a variety of products and services to serve the farmer and his family and 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 central bank to support the bank’s capital, like what happens with other banks that face the same circumstances.