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Dr Waheed Al Qassim

Coronavirus motivates concessional financing

MANAMA, March 8, 2020

The critical condition Bahrain, the region and the world are going through after the outbreak of the Coronavirus and restrictions on points of entry by land, sea, and air, confirms the importance of the trend towards strengthening food security in the kingdom. 
 
Dr Waheed Al Qassim, CEO of Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB), stressed that pointed to the endeavour of (BAB) to discuss with the banks regarding providing concessional financing for agricultural projects and livestock production, along with the idea of establishing a Bahraini agricultural bank.
 
“Self-sufficiency in food products has become a crucial issue in peoples ’lives, not only because of threats, turmoil, and wars but also for reasons that may not be taken into account, such as the emerging coronavirus. We saw many countries place restrictions on the movement of travellers, as other countries initiated to prevent the export of health care products, and as long as control of this virus has not been successful until now, it is not surprising that the import and export movement of food commodities will be negatively affected in the region and around the world,” Dr Al Qassim said.
 
Dr Al Qassim indicated that Bahraini banks always play their responsible role within the framework of national plans related to sustainability and prosperity, according to the royal directive of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, may God protect and preserve him, by developing and implementing a “strategic project for the national food production”, this is beside the interest and care of the agricultural development shown by Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Wife of the King, the President of the Consultative Council of the National Initiative for Agricultural Development, may God protect her.
 
The CEO of the Bahrain Association of Banks indicated that a number of Bahraini banks recently initiated an agreement with “Tamkeen” regarding providing financial and credit facilities for renewable energy projects. “We seek to formulate a similar agreement to develop national capacities in the field of food industries and raise the proportion of local production, and to maintain the experts in these sectors to be an important part in the success of these projects, and activating the role of innovation and applying modern technology in developing agricultural production,” Dr Al Qassim added.
 
Dr Al Qassim confirmed that one of the proposals in this field is also is the establishment of a Bahraini agricultural bank, similar to the Egyptian Agricultural Bank, or the Saudi Agricultural Bank, which later became known as the Agricultural Development Fund, provided that the mission of this bank is to finance various areas of agricultural activity in Bahrain to help develop the Agricultural sector and raise its production efficiency, by providing interest-free concessional loans to farmers to secure the necessary equipment, pumps, agricultural machinery, and equipment for raising cows, poultry, sheep, beekeeping equipment, fish, etc. Pointing to the CBB’s keenness to encourage the financial sector to support the general directions of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the bank’s efforts in developing the legislative structure to keep pace with the work of various financial institutions.
 
Dr Al-Qassim concluded his statement by stressing that Bahraini banks are concerned with government initiatives to strengthen the food security system and providing food, such as the launch of the National Food Security Strategy to intensify agricultural and animal financing, the development of agricultural technologies, and the expansion of investment in agricultural and food projects, both domestic and externally, as well as attracting external investments to the kingdom while following up on storage levels compared to consumption. -- Tradearabia News Service
 



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