KazAgro to cease issuing loans

National Managing Holding KazAgro will cease issuing loans, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Agriculture Marat Tolebayev as saying at the presentation of recommendations of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). “According to OECD experts, KazAgro, being a quasi-state-run institute, is competing with private lenders and by doing so it probably obstructs other banks. We accepted these recommendations. And in the new Agrobusiness-2020 program we arranged the work of KazAgro in such a way that its direct lending activities are gradually lowering and the loaning focus is shifted away to second-tier banks instead,” the Vice-Minister said. Tolebayev also noted that KazAgro would only be a conductor of the state policies and the agent for payment of subsidies on loans. Such system was also recommended by OECD. By Shynar Ospanova