The Agricultural Bank of Egypt (ABE) has announced its new strategy and future plans to start off the year as a leading development banking institution that supports the efforts of the state as well as major national projects.
The bank is also preparing to provide banking services to all clients everywhere across the country.
Chairperson of the ABE, Alaa Farouk, said the bank aims to launch its activities this year to support Egyptian citizens in the implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
“We must all do our best to reach our dream, which is why we will adopt this strategy in 2022 based on these values. Our goal is for the bank to become one of the largest entities working in the banking sector, driven by great support from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), which is headed by Governor Tarek Amer,” he stated.
He pointed out that the bank launched under the slogan ‘Patron of Egyptian Lands’ to express its dream of rooting its role to achieve the hopes and dreams of every citizen in Egypt, so that all citizens receive the banking services they are looking for.
“We support and assist citizens and we provide necessary financing when needed in the countryside. We also work hand in hand with the state to implement the Decent Life Presidential Initiative to make it the largest and most successful initiative that raises the standard of living of more than 60% of Egyptians,” he added.
He added that the bank began developing all its branches and infrastructure to get ready for the launch across all parts of Egypt and ensure a real presence in all villages, cities, and new development areas, as well as offer services to achieve the maximum benefit from the subsidised financing programmes provided by the state through the bank to support producers in the fields of agriculture, animal production, and other activities.
This aims to achieve many gains and benefits for individuals and society at large by increasing and improving production, providing direct and indirect job opportunities, and enhancing the standard of living.
He also pointed out that the bank tries to suit the needs of farmers, as it considers them the basis of development. Farmers who own a plot of agricultural land are eligible for plant production loans or agricultural advances at 5% interest so that the bank can alleviate the costs of agriculture and face the rise in production requirements to plant and harvest.
“We also encourage them to convert their traditional irrigation systems to modern irrigation ones using annual instalments without interest for a period of 10 years, and the state will bear the entire interest on farmers’ behalf in order to increase production and profits, improve crops, and save water wasted using old irrigation systems.”
Furthermore, he explained that anyone who wishes to raise livestock is eligible for the livestock loan at an interest rate of 5%. Anyone who has a project or an idea for a small or micro-enterprise has the right to obtain a ‘Bab Rizq loan’ that the bank grants only to those with IDs.
Farouk indicated that the bank will also intensify its efforts to achieve a long-awaited dream of making use of desert lands by supporting individuals and large companies to reclaim and cultivate thousands of acres in new development areas launched by the state and provide all their financing needs.
He stressed that 2022 will mark a new beginning for ABE, through which it looks forward to a future based on work and production to build the new republic.
In the same context, Farouk indicated that the ABE will continue to launch and sponsor several targeted social programmes in the field of social responsibility with the aim of establishing the foundations of sustainable development, which is in line with the state’s comprehensive development plan pertaining to areas of social and environmental development and health care.
He stressed that the bank attaches great importance to community development efforts within the framework of the national role it plays as one of the national banking institutions specialised in achieving sustainable and rural development and financial inclusion in Egypt.
According to Farouk, the corporate social responsibility strategy of the ABE is based on three main axes: Encouraging innovation, research, and development in the agricultural sector and other related activities; Supporting efforts to develop the agricultural education sector in Egypt and other fields of study that serve the agricultural sector, whether for agricultural technical education or university education; And fostering cooperation in supporting entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and other related sectors, especially in rural areas, such as border and remote governorates and new development areas.
He also indicated that the bank is working to offer support to low-income families in the villages of the Egyptian countryside within the framework of the Decent Life Initiative in an attempt to support the state in fighting poverty and creating real and sustainable development.
The issue of helping debtors pay their debts is a top priority of the bank’s, in implementation of President Al-Sisi’s directives and the presidential initiative ‘Prisons Without Debtors’ to keep the structure of Egyptian families intact.
