NatWest Announces £1.25 Billion of Support for Farmers
NatWest has announced £1.25billion of support for farmers facing inflation challenges.
The lending package to the UK farming community is to help them deal with a variety of cost pressures and to aid them in making the transition to more sustainable practices.
The announcement builds on an earlier set of measures for the sector announced in June.
Ian Burrow, Head of Agriculture at NatWest, said:
“The UK farming sector is currently facing unprecedented cost pressures, caused by a perfect storm of external factors. Inflation, supply chain challenges and the war in Ukraine are combining to cause steep rises in the cost of essential materials for the sector, such as fertiliser and feed, on top of the broader challenge of fuel and energy costs that the wider economy faces. Together, these impacts are putting intense pressure on profit margins, and we know the sector needs access to funding to navigate through the coming months.
“We are boosting our financial support for farmers by £1.25 billion to help them through this challenging period. Our agricultural managers have in-depth knowledge of the sector, including the ability to offer this individual financial support where needed. We would urge affected customers to get in touch with their local agriculture relationship manager to discuss how we can help.”
Businesses in the UK agriculture sector are facing inflation of over 25 per cent, price hikes in the region of 200 per cent for fertiliser, gas, and fuel, and a raft of other cost pressures on feed, electricity, and seeds, as a result of the combined impacts of inflation, Brexit, and the War on Ukraine on supply costs to the industry.
In response to these pressures, NatWest is confirming £1.25bn of support for the farming sector. The bank will deploy this money through a variety of routes, including Green Loans, conventional loans, asset finance and increased overdrafts, to add to the capital repayment holidays and reductions on small business loans that were announced last month.
Source: Salisbury Journal
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