In connection with the increase in the key rate by the Bank of Russia, the government made changes to the program of concessional lending to agricultural producers. At the same time, the preferential interest rate remains within the range of 1% to 5% per annum, the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia reports.
The concessional lending program for farmers was launched in 2017. Within its framework, agricultural producers have the opportunity to attract preferential short-term loans for up to 1 year, as well as investment loans for a period of 2 to 15 years at a preferential rate for the development of sub-sectors of agriculture and processing of agricultural raw materials. With the help of preferential loans, farmers purchase seeds, fertilizers, fuels and lubricants and other material and technical resources necessary for the sowing campaign.
In 2021, 90,5 billion rubles were allocated for these purposes. Of these, 60,9 billion rubles - to subsidize the interest rate on investment loans, 29,6 billion rubles - on short-term loans.
Thanks to this mechanism, in 2021, farmers entered into preferential short-term loans in the amount of more than 756 billion rubles, and preferential investment loans - in the amount of more than 447 billion rubles.
In 2022, the federal budget provides for 100,4 billion rubles in this area.