Agriculture loans exceed RD$23 billion in 2023

Santo Domingo – RD$4.8 billion was channeled to other related activities, equivalent to almost 14% of all loans.

In 2023, the agriculture subsector received the most significant loans from the Agricultural Bank of the Dominican Republic for the agricultural sector, representing 70% of the total loans.

Of the RD$33,190.6 million of accumulated disbursements at the end of December of last year, RD$23,205.4 million went to agriculture, according to the reports of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), which uses data supplied by the Agricultural Bank.

The report states that the agriculture subsector is followed by livestock, forestry, and fishing, which received RD$5,150.8, representing nearly 16% of the resources channeled.

“RD$4,834.4 million were channeled to other related activities, equivalent to almost 14% of all loans in 2023,” it specifies.

The JAD’s reports note that last year’s Banco Agrícola loans increased by almost RD$37 million compared to 2022 when they reached RD$33,153.7 million. In 2021, they reached RD$31,335.8 million.

Last week, at the National Meeting of Leaders of the Agricultural Sector, the general administrator of Banco Agrícola, Fernando Durán, affirmed that the country’s agriculture would need more than RD$100 billion annually to finance its operations.

“He specified that rice cultivation alone, with almost three million tareas planted, requires more than RD$25 billion a year and mentioned the urgency of renewing aging cocoa plantations and continuing to modernize sectors such as livestock and poultry farming, which have shown growth in recent years.

He explained that maintaining low inflation is key to making investments in the countryside profitable and contributing to the sector’s growth.

“This is all part of the effort to create a dynamic economy.”