Serbian lawmakers to consider Law on pre-harvest financing in April 2013

Law on pre-harvest financing, which has been drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Power Engineering under a project of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will be taken in consideration by Serbian lawmakers in April, together with other laws proposed by that ministry, Milos Milovanovic, assistant to the minister of agriculture, says to eKapija.

According to Milovanovic, this law may be put into effect in June or July, while its full implementation could be expected in the autumn.

- This law institutionalizes financing on the basis of future yields and sets future yields as a basis for assessing credit worthiness, and it should also introduce a register of pledges to be registered with the BRA, thus ensuring transparency across the entire system of agriculture financing – the assistant to the minister explains.

This law should also lead to a decrease in the interest rate for agricultural loans.

The EBRD and FAO project was simultaneously launched in Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Serbia, with the latter two having gone the furthest in project implementation.