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MANILA - State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines on Tuesday said loans to its priority sectors grew by a tenth in the first quarter of this year.
In a statement, Gilda Pico, Land Bank president, said loans to its priority sectors reached P176.7 billion in the January to March period from P160.8 billion a year ago.
Pico said loans to priority sectors comprise 73 percent of the bank's total loan portfolio of P242.2 billion.
Loans for agri-aqua related projects of local government units and government owned or controlled corporations cornered the lion's share at 25 percent or P61.12 billion, followed by small farmers and fisherfolk at 11 percent or P26.32 billion, and microenterprises and SMEs at 10 percent or P25.19 billion.
“Land Bank continues to reach out to more key players which help spur countryside development. This signifies our commitment to improve the economic conditions of our countrymen in the rural areas,” she said.
Land Bank is required to set aside credit for small farmers and fisherfolk. In the first quarter, the lender granted loans amounting to P7.3 billion to these sectors, an 18 percent increase from the previous year's P6.2 billion.
The said loan releases were channeled through 535 farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives and 178 countryside financial institutions. More than 134,000 small farmers and fisherfolk nationwide benefited from this credit.
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