Peruvian agriculture development bank Agrobanco aims to place some 80m nuevo soles (US$24.5m) in direct loans in 2005, local press reported bank president Carlos Garatea as saying.
In 2004 Agrobanco's direct lending totalled 79m and was issued to 11,500 individuals for 40,000 hectares of land and 5,833 head of cattle.
The bank's indirect lending is expected to rise by 90% to around 45m nuevo soles this year compared to 2004, Garatea said.
Agrobanco also intends to work with local municipal and rural credit unions and other development entities focused on SMEs and micro-sized enterprises.
The bank opened its doors in 2002 to expand financing to local Peruvian farmers as part of an initiative of Peru's President Alejandro Toledo.
Source: Bnamericas
