MP suggests to open agricultural bank in Kazakhstan

Senator Kuanysh Aitakhanov suggested to open an agricultural bank in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports. “We have to create equal conditions for our farmers, just like in Russia and Belarus. 47 percent of Kazakhstan’s people live in rural areas, but they are not only represented by agricultural producers, but also teachers, doctors and artists. If we open a special agricultural bank, it will have over one million clients,” Aitakhanov said. The senator explained his position by the fact that there are financial institutions in member-countries of the Common Economic Space that lend to agricultural producers, and not only to the major ones, but also to medium and small one. Specialized agricultural banks of Russia and Belarus take grain, land and other properties as a collateral, this enables farmers to obtain loans for development. Earlier Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the government to deal with the problems of Kazakhstan farmers. “Kazakhstan’s agrarian sector has high export capacities and high potential for implementation of innovations. Especially since demand for agricultural products will keep growing every year in the world. We cannot miss this opportunity,” the President said in his Address to Kazakhstan people.