–Budgets US$35M to Service Debt of Past Seven Years to Commercial Banks
IPNEWS-Monrovia: According to the Liberia News Agency (LINA), the Minister of Finance and Development (MFDP), Samuel D. Tweah called on commercial banks in Liberia to consider landing monies to famers in the country as a means of enhancing productivity in the agricultural sector.
The Liberian Finance Minister noted that the issue of commercial banks’ lending money to farmers in the country is cardinal to reviving the current status of the sector thus fostering growth and development in the sector.
“If there is one magical thing to do in order to solve the problem in the agricultural sector, it is that banks have to lend money to farmers,” Tweah noted.
Speaking in an interview recently with scores of talk show hosts at a local radio station in Monrovia, the Minister Tweah lamented the unfortunate situation is that commercial banks are not seeing it profitable to take such a path.
He emphasized that commercial banks don’t see the possibility of getting their monies back upon lending to farmers on grounds that past efforts were not honored on the part of the farmers and the government at large.
However, Minister Tweah said despite the fact that the rubber farmers defaulted in the payment of loans given them by commercial banks in the past, the Government of Liberia is finding possible ways in which they can restructure the program.
He assured the commercial banks that the current government will service the legacy debt owed the commercial banks as a means of rekindling the lost confidence.
Tweah disclosed that the Government of Liberia has budgeted US$35 million in the current budget in order to service the debts owed the commercial banks in the past seven years.
The Finance Minister expressed hope that upon the payment of the US$35 million, the commercial banks will regain confidence in the government, thus continuing the loan scheme to farmers in the country.
He emphasized that once the commercial banks get the US$35 million legacy debt, the issue about agriculture will definitely be on the table for financing.
Meanwhile, Tweah stressed the need for the duration of the loan to be long coupled with a low interest rate as a means of providing a free space for the farmers to perform, maintaining that access to credit, grows the economy.
He assured farmers across the country that the interest rate of lending institutions will subsequently drop once the macroeconomics space improves.
Meanwhile, Minister Tweah has disclosed that finance is not the problem for the agriculture sector adding that the development partners are putting enormous amounts of money in the sector.
Tweah lamented that the problem with the agriculture sector is the organization of the resources going to the sector, noting that the Ministry of Agriculture is working hard in addressing such challenges.
Also, the MFDP boss revealed the Government of Liberia plans to embark on a massive clearing of land for farming purposes across the country.
Tweah said cash crops like cocoa and rubber will be considered immensely under the new agriculture reform that seeks to add value to products.
