ABE to offer global tender in 6 months to develop its technological structure: Chairperson

The foundation is the agricultural and rural development, the farmer and the Egyptian farms, and to revive the agricultural field, provide funding for all stages from production to consumption, and assist in the marketing of agricultural commodities and all related activities. The bank has an effective role in this regard, especially that we have the bank’s commercial division, the Egyptian Company for Agricultural and Rural Development.

What has been done concerning the defaulting problem?

We have managed to reduce the proportion of non-performing loans (NPL) from 20% of the total loan portfolio in March 2016 to a current 12%. Plus, we aim to cut the ratio to 10% by the end of 2018, and then lower in the coming years.

Likewise, we have already treated 26,000 defaulting cases with debts amounting to EGP 1.5bn. Conjointly, we settled loans with 2,700 further customers with debts worth EGP 175mm during the CBE’s initiative to settle debts of defaulters and individuals whose debts are less than EGP 10m.

What about covering the provision gap for other NPLs?

Recently, we have obtained the CBE’s approval to compensate the provision gap within the bank over the coming five years.

What is new about the smart farmer card that the bank is issuing?

The Smart Farm Card is one of the projects of the Ministry of Agriculture, in coordination with the ministries of military production and planning, which is being implemented via e-finance. This the real alternative to agricultural tenure, and will contribute to the assembly of agricultural policies and benefit from in-kind support.

We have printed 2.2m cards to far, but distribution was delayed until the finalisation of the infrastructure of agricultural associations, so that farmers can use and benefit from the card. Fayoum and Gharbiya will witness the pilot programme before we apply it for all other governorates.