Luxembourg, 20/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 April, several EU countries (Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Italy) gave their support to the model guarantee instrument for agriculture launched by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) last March.
The model instrument aims to help ease access to finance for farmers and other rural businesses. Member States and regions can adapt and use the model to set up financial instruments funded by their rural development programmes (RDPs) under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) - to secure loans for investments in farm performance, processing and marketing, business start-ups and many other areas.
Addressing a group of journalists, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, stated, “it makes financial sense for Member States to get involved in this EIB programme in view of the fact that they can use existing money under the RD Programme to leverage a multiplier of 5 times that amount in low-interest loans to provide access to credit”. (Lionel Changeur)