Additional USD 100 million for irrigation by year’s end

BELGRADE - A USD 100 million loan from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be used for irrigation projects that are ready, Serbian Agriculture Minister Dragan Glamocic, announcing the arrival of an additional USD 100 million tranche loan for irrigation by the end of the year.

“We have 14 projects ready, and they are to be implemented by the end of 2017. The funds will be used to get water to the fields, improve infrastructure, dig new channels and cleanse the existing canal network,” Glamocic told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) on Friday.

The USD 100 million loan for irrigation, which was signed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, carries a loan term of 20 years, an interest rate of 2.5 percent and a grace period of five years.

The list of projects to be financed by the loan will be made public when the relevant procedure is completed.

“We expect yet another tranche loan from the UAE at the end of the year, which will be a long-term loan, for a period of 10 years or longer,” said Glamocic.

Until we get the funds from the UAE loan, the government will provide farmers with favorable local currency-based loans for irrigation and other agricultural activities, with an interest rate of four to six percent, he said.

Photo www.sxc.hu/profile/paolzanon (illustration)