Belgrade, Nov 24, 2004 –National Bank of Serbia Governor Radovan Jelasic said today that the central bank should contribute to the creation of efficient mechanisms of financing agriculture, thereby minimising funding by the state and providing maximum long-term effects from disposable funds.
Opening the conference “Agriculture Crediting Market”, Jelasic said that this mechanism will overcome obstacles business banks face in providing credit to agriculture.
According to him, the role of the state is to stimulate the agriculture crediting instead of providing direct subsidies. He went on to say that the National Bank of Serbia will change the legislation so as to increase the “appetite” of commercial banks for using their funds in agricultural lending.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ivana Dulic-Markovic pointed to the necessity of overcoming the mutual lack of trust between banks and agricultural producers so as to make domestic agriculture more competitive.
She said that 47,000 agricultural producers opened restricted registration accounts so far, and added that a loan registry of accounts is being prepared which will furnish necessary information to banks.
Assistant Minister of Finance Goran Andjelic said that banks should take over the crucial role of crediting agriculture while the state and the National Bank of Serbia are in charge of creating a favourable climate aimed at developing business relations between agricultural producers and business banks.
Assistant Minister of Agriculture Goran Zivkov said that short-term loans should be provided to both agricultural producers and processors. He assessed that there is a great need for renovation of agricultural machinery in the amount of around €3 billion.
The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Serbia, with the support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.