Bank lending slows down to farms

The total lending from banks to Scottish agriculture over the past year has slowed down, according to statistics out this week. Outstanding debts to Scottish farms rose by £22 million in the year to May 31 2018. Total outstanding lending to the agricultural sector amounted to £2.34 billion. Accounting for inflation, this was a decrease of 0.6 per cent since May 2017, according to results from a survey of the main banks and other lending institutions released by the Scottish Government’s Chief Statistician. In addition to bank lending, farms have an estimated £1.2 billion of debt related to hire purchase, leasing and other sources, the statistics also showed.