OREANDA-NEWS. October 11, 2013. Russian Agricultural Bank’s (RusAg) loan portfolio to the agribusiness industry exceeded RUB 1 trillion, which is a 25% increase as compared to January 1, 2013.

The dynamic growth of the agribusiness loan portfolio is mostly attributed to the Bank’s active cooperation with small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Since the launch of the State Program on Agribusiness Development in 2008, RusAg has extended more than RUB 960 billion in loans to SMEs in rural areas.

In total, loan portfolio to this segment amounted to RUB 499 billion as of September 1, 2013. Investment loans, extended for construction and purchase of premises and equipment, development of livestock breeding and poultry facilities account for 77% of the SME loan portfolio. RusAg has more than 33 thousand SME clients in agribusiness.

Currently, RusAg is the key lender to Russian agribusiness and ranks first in lending to SMEs operating in the industry. Since its inception, the Bank has extended RUB 2.5 trillion in loans to agriculture.