Ethiopian farmers can now secure bank loans by using their moveable assets as collateral in order to help them meet their cash-flow needs amidst coronavirus pandemic.Ethiopian small scale farmers have found it tough to secure bank loans due to their size and lack of financial history. Announcing the new directive on Thursday, Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia Yinager Dessie said the new directives will be a game changer to transform the agriculture sector which employs over 80 percent of the total population. “We have now prepared the Collateral Registry and the directives will be implemented this coming Ethiopian New Year which will begin September 11, 2020. Accordingly, banks will allocate 5 percent for small farmers using movable properties as collateral starting from September, 2020. Yinager said that the National Collateral Registry (NCR), an online centralized-database, which commenced operation in May, now allows financial service providers to register security interest in movable assets.

Source: Ethiopian News September 10, 2020 18:00 UTC