The Agricultural Bank of Namibia (Agribank) has started with the roll-out of the drought relief subsidy, which was announced by Mr Iipumbu Shiimi, Minister of Finance and Public Enterprise (MFPE), during his budget speech in February 2024.

The drought relief, which started from 10 July 2024, will be in the form of an instalment relief and a penalty interest waiver for clients.

As first intervention, based on the criteria agreed with the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises, this intervention of instalment relief is limited to Agribank clients with farmland and livestock loan accounts.

“The instalment relief targets clients who are in good standing and whose instalments fall due from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025,” said Mr Fillemon Nangonya, Agribank’s public relations officer.

“Clients who fell into arrears between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 will also be considered. Accounts of qualifying clients will be credited in full as and when instalments fall due, and past-due accounts will be credited with immediate effect.

“The total commitment for this intervention is N$104.6 million.”

The second intervention involves “a gesture of goodwill”, which Agribank offers to waive penalty interest amounting to approximately N$83 million for this financial year (April 2024 – March 2025) for all clients that are in arrears.

“We are facing challenging times for both our clients and the bank. We want both to survive, and we are trying to balance many considerations to ensure our clients receive some scope to make it through this difficult period,” stated Dr Raphael Karuaihe, Agribank’s Chief Executive Officer.

“For Agribank, our main and sustainable source of funds is loan repayments by our clients. This means that extending the same relief to all clients of the bank is unfortunately not a financially viable option at this stage.”

“While we acknowledge that the instalment relief may not reach every affected farmer, we trust that our consideration of waiving penalty interest for all clients in arrears serves as a welcome relief to all our valued clients.

“We will continue to maintain a flexible approach in our discussions with individual clients in our attempt to find appropriate solutions in line with the Bank’s policies and procedures.”

In the photo: Agribank’s CEO Dr Raphael Karuaihe.