banks promise action for operators in difficulty

The farms concerned will be able to benefit in particular from emergency loans at preferential rates, “between 0 and 2.5% depending on the situation of the farms”, announced the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, on Tuesday.

Farmers in difficulty – and recognized as such by the State – will be able to delay the payment of their bank debt for one year, reschedule their maturities and benefit from loans at preferential rates, announced the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le. Mayor, Tuesday February 27.

After a meeting with the banking sector, the minister spoke to journalists “the possibility for these farms in difficulty to have a one-year deferral of payment of their debt”, then a debt rescheduling of up to three years. Farms in serious difficulty will also be able to benefit from emergency loans at preferential rates, “between 0 and 2.5% depending on the situation of the farms”he added.

Some banks have already started to offer advantageous loans to farmers, not holding back from communicating about these commercial initiatives on the sidelines of the Agricultural Show. Bruno Le Maire also said that he wanted to let competition play out between financial establishments. The minister said he wanted “to provide immediate solutions to the agricultural companies most in difficulty, those which have real cash flow needs and which are now calling for help, and which need immediate and concrete answers”.

State loan guarantee put in place from May 1

To assess needs, advisors dedicated to businesses in difficulty in each department will “look at the cash flow situation of each farm”. They are going to start this census “in the coming hours” in order to “define farms that are really in difficulty”, specified the minister. Any operator who considers himself short of funds must report to these advisors in each prefecture. “Then, a dialogue begins with his bank advisor, his bank branch, to have one of the two instruments available to him”rescheduling or advantageous loan.

Bruno Le Maire also announced that the State guarantee of loans to farmers, to the tune of 2 billion euros, would be put in place from May 1 and not during July as initially planned. These loans – the average amount of which should, according to Bercy, be around 150,000 euros – are aimed at “other agricultural businesses, which need to adapt, need to purchase equipment, invest, need to green their operations and therefore have very significant investment needs”specified the Minister of the Economy.