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Farmers and businesses will be able to apply for the €300m Future Growth Loan Scheme from 17 April.
Up to €50m has been ring-fenced specifically for farmers and interest rates vary between 4.5% for loans up to €249,000 and 3.5% for loans greater than €250,000.
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The loan term is between eight and 10 years and loans are for capital investments.
Farmers must draw down a minimum of €50,000, with up to €500,000 available on an unsecured basis. The maximum loan amount available is €3m.
AIB, Bank of Ireland and KBC are currently the only approved finance providers but it is understood that Ulster Bank and one other lender are also being considered for inclusion.
The loan scheme was announced 18 months ago in Budget 2018 and has been heavily criticised for repeated delays, with added disappointment that just 16% of the €300m fund was available to farmers, considering the agriculture sector is the most vulnerable to Brexit.
Demand
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed told the Irish Farmers Journal that “if demand exceeds that figure [€50m] it’s something that we can revisit in terms of the configuration of the package”. When asked if he thought the €50,000 minimum drawdown would be prohibitive to smaller farmers getting loans, the minister said it was in line with average investment rates on farms.
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