YEREVAN, November 2. /ARKA/. Converse Bank started lending within the framework of the “State Assistance Program on Financial Leasing of Agricultural Equipment in the Republic of Armenia”, the press office of Converse Bank reported on Friday.

This is the third state-subsidized program implemented in the agricultural sector, which Converse Bank has joined this year.

“Loans under the program are issued in Armenian drams, with maturity up to 8 years. The maximum annual interest rate of lending is 11%, 7 of which are subsidized by the state. Thus, the interest rate for beneficiaries is only 4 percent”, the bank says in its press release. .

Within the framework of this program, credit funds can be used for purchase of agricultural equipment for sectors of agriculture, including livestock breeding, crop production (including greenhouse farming), refrigerating industry (including milk collection stations), slaughterhouses, and agro-processing industry.

It should be mentioned that Converse Bank participates also in the “Program of Subsidizing Interest Rates of Loans Issued in the Agricultural Sector of the Republic of Armenia” and the “Program of Subsidizing Interest Rates of Loans Issued in the Agro Processing Sector for Procurement of Agricultural Raw Materials”, as well as issues loans with its own resources. As of October 1, as compared with the beginning of the year, the Bank’s total agro lending portfolio grew by 51 percent amounting to around AMD 9.6 billion.

Converse Bank was registered on December 20, 1993.

The bank’s shareholders are Advanced Global Investments" LLC (Argentina) with 80.94%, Armenian Apostolic Church with 5% and HayPost Trust Management B.V. Company with 14.06%. -0---