As the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit aims at expanding in offering sharia-compliant loans, the lender has launched an initiative to finance cultivating of about 1000 feddans (1038 acres) in Fayoum and Sharkia. Mohsen El-Batran, chairman of the PBDAC, said the bank will provide the farmers with their needs including fertilizers, pesticides and animal fodders, adding that the bank will offer such service for all governorates in the upcoming period. The farmers will receive cash of up to EGP 5,000. This move came to meet the increasing demand on Islamic banking products as most farmers prefer to conduct their financial transactions in compliance with sharia law. The bank has recently launched five Islamic banking branches in Beni Suef, Fayoum, Behira, Qalyubia and Cairo, while it received approvals to establish 14 Islamic banking branches. The bank has 11 Islamic banks which will be restructured in the upcoming period. The bank also plans to expand in providing farmers with in-kind loans so as to reduce the probability of default through providing farmers with their needs. The value of the Islamic deposits held by the bank reached EGP one billion which, will be offered as sharia-compliant loans.
