Sejko: Support for the food production chain is vital for the country

2025-07-08 13:05:00, Aktualitet CNA

Sejko: Support for the food production chain is vital for the country

Governor, Gent Sejko

The Governor, Gent Sejko, today called on commercial banks to take advantage of the programs offered by the Bank of Albania and the Albanian government for agricultural lending.

During his speech at the roundtable discussion on promoting credit in the agricultural sector, Sejko emphasized that supporting the food chain industry remains a vital factor for a country and its population.

Sejko recalled once again that this sector provides approximately 20% of the country's GDP and provides employment for about 1/3 of the population, while benefiting from less than 2% of total credit. Furthermore, the Governor underlined that the trends of recent years are not at all positive.

"We have discussed the reasons for the low level of credit to the agricultural sector – starting from ownership problems and continuing with the high level of informality, the relatively high business risk, as well as low productivity due to the lack of economies of scale – continuously. Some of these problems still remain relevant, while others are on the way to being resolved. However, even in this challenging context, current levels of credit to agriculture remain low. This is a shortcoming that must be corrected sooner rather than later if we aim to promote the sustainable development of this vital sector for the Albanian economy," said Sejko.

According to him, the Bank of Albania decided to focus its Micro, Small and Medium Business Financing Program on increasing credit for the agricultural sector, which provides a secure and stable base of funds, at low cost, for lending to agricultural sector development projects, including agritourism and the agri-food industry.

Recently, the Albanian Government has also taken concrete steps in this direction, by making available a sovereign guarantee scheme for loans granted to the agricultural sector. This guarantee significantly reduces the risk of lending to this sector, significantly reducing one of the main problems for agricultural lending, collateral.

"In our judgment, these two development projects provide a solid platform to take a new qualitative step forward in agricultural lending. However, the success of this platform depends to a large extent on your involvement and commitment to utilizing its instruments."

In the narrow aspect of the interest of the businesses you run, I would like to emphasize that the low level of lending to the agricultural sector should not be seen only as evidence of the problems that exist in this process, but also as a potential indicator of the high return that you can secure from investing in it. For this reason, I invite you to give agriculture the attention and expertise it deserves,” said the Governor.

He added that, in terms of overall economic development, the growth of the agricultural sector in synchrony and parallel with other sectors of the economy should be seen as an essential element for the sustainable and long-term development of the country.

"From this perspective, as primary actors in the economic and financial life of the country, you should consider lending to the agricultural sector as an investment with a positive return in the sustainable and long-term development of the country."

"As important actors in the social life of the country, supporting the agricultural sector should also be seen as a moral obligation towards Albania, the country in which you safely and profitably develop your business. Supporting the food chain industry remains a factor of truly vital importance for a country and its population," said Sejko.

According to data from the Bank of Albania, at the end of last year the agricultural loan portfolio fell to 6.3 billion lek, from 6.8 billion lek a year earlier. While the weight of this portfolio against total loans to the economy shrank further to 1.3%, from 1.6% a year earlier./ Monitor Magazine