Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 6 /Trend, N.Ismayilova/
Azerbaijan still needs to establish an Agricultural Bank, board member of the AqrarKredit state non-banking credit organization Suleyman Kalyashov told Trend on Wednesday.
"Having a specialized agricultural bank encourages the development of non-oil sector. Today, the share of agriculture in GDP is 5.2 percent, and increasing lending in this sphere will grow its share in GDP," said Kalyashov.
According to the Central Bank, the total loan portfolio of the banking sector was 9.2 billion manat, where the share of agricultural sector accounts for only about 500 million manat (5.4 percent).
"Creating a specialized bank in the country is also necessary due to the fact that agriculture is a specific area and the commercial banks do not specialize in this sector, which requires a special approach to lending," he said.
According to him, now the question of transforming AqrarKredit into a bank is still considered. AqrarKredit has the necessary professional expertise and experience to provide full banking services.
According to Kalyashov, averagely per year AqrarKredit provides 15 million manat loan to the agricultural sector.
The main shareholder of Agrarkredit is the Finance Ministry of Azerbaijan, which owns 99.9 percent of shares in the credit organization and the rest is divided equally between Azersigorta State Insurance Company and Irrigation and Water Management JSC.
