Marcella Corcoran Kennedy
Ceist:1161. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to continue the agriculture cashflow support loan scheme in budget 2018. [19372/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 2 May 2017
Ceisteanna (1161)
Freagraí scríofa
The “Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme” was developed by my Department in co-operation with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), making €150 million available to farmers at interest rates of 2.95%. One of my priorities has been to address the impact of the change in the sterling exchange rate and lower commodity prices in some agriculture sectors. Distributed and administered through AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, the Scheme provides farmers with a low cost, flexible source of working capital and will allow them to pay down more expensive forms of short-term debt, ensuring the ongoing financial sustainability of viable farming enterprises.
SBCI uses the €25 million of public funding provided by my Department to leverage the total amount of €150 million and, along with the European Investment Fund’s ‘COSME’ (the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs), is providing the guarantee required to underpin the loan’s flexibility and lower the cost of the loans. My Department’s contribution of €25 million includes €11 million from the EU’s ‘exceptional adjustment aid for milk and other livestock farmers’. It was this exceptional aid package which facilitated the Scheme from an EU State Aid perspective and additional funding is not possible under this particular arrangement. Other sectors, such as tillage and horticulture, were facilitated by national funding under the ‘de minimis’ State Aid rules.
I am pleased at the very positive reaction by farmers to the Scheme, which has proved that significant demand exists for low cost flexible finance. I am currently meeting with the Chief Executives of the participating banks to discuss this and other issues relating access to finance in the agri-food sector. I am asking the banks to respond positively to this demand by reducing interest rates and providing more flexible terms for cash flow loans in the future.