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Agribank kick starts emerging retail financing product

Agribank kick starts emerging retail financing product

Following a period of refinement which resulted in delays, Agribank announced that approvals for emerging retail financing product loans have commenced, with over N$1.2 million worth of loans having already been approved.

In 2015, Agribank announced that it will launch a no-collateral loan product for full-time communal farmers, thus, in response to the announcement, many farmers submitted their applications.

The bank currently has loans worth N$25 million on its applications shortlist. These loans are at various stages of credit appraisal.

The bank introduced the project in response to market demand for collateral-free products for full time communal farmers. The newly approved loans were re-appraised against criteria set after a comprehensive review to ensure that adequate risk mitigating measures were put in place for this product.

Agribank stated that priority is first being placed on previous applicants, whose applications are being re-appraised anew to determine viability. Once the bank has dealt with the existing shortlist, it will then invite new applications for this product.

“We are quite excited that this product is back on track following comprehensive review. In the interim, we had introduced the salary-backed no-collateral loan product which is doing very well. The ERFP takes care of communal farmers who do not have full time employment and also have no tangible collateral to offer against their loans. This is yet a further way in which we continue to catalyse the transformation of agriculture in Namibia,” said Sakaria Nghikembua, chief executive officer of Agribank.


About The Author

Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys