The Parliament of Moldova adopted in the second reading the draft Law on providing loans to farmers under state guarantees.
The document, which provides for the issuance of urgent loans to farmers under state guarantees, will help create this spring a mechanism for emergency lending to grain producers to cover costs associated with agricultural work. A legislative initiative to support farmers by facilitating access to state-guaranteed loans was made by PAS deputy, chairman of the commission on agriculture and food industry, Alexandr Trubca. The bill he prepared provides that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, together with the Entrepreneurship Development Organization, will establish a mechanism for providing financial guarantees, as well as specific conditions for providing guarantees for loans received from banks by micro and small enterprises that grow grains. Financial guarantees will be issued through the Loan Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises. At the same time, there is a ban on the collection of amounts received by farmers by their creditors in repayment of previous debts. The need to develop a bill is due to the fact that at this stage, agricultural producers in the grain sector faced with a number of problems caused by both internal factors, such as the drought of previous years, and external factors associated with changes in logistics routes in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. These circumstances led to a decrease in grain prices on the international market, an increase in prices for diesel fuel, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, as well as an increase in prices for export logistics. Under these conditions, there is a risk of insolvency of farmers involved in growing grain, and indirectly there is a risk of partial violation of plans for the sowing process in the spring of 2024 and, accordingly, a shortfall in harvest. The bill to support farmers by facilitating access to state-guaranteed loans will come into force from the date of publication in the Monitorul Oficial. // 12.04.2024 — InfoMarket
