Danone Ukraine and INDEXBANK launch project worth EUR 2 m to issue cheap loans to farmers

Kyiv, March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Danone Ukraine and INDEXBANK (Kyiv) have started implementing a project worth EUR 2 million to issue low-interest loans to farmers in 2011, INDEXBANK Board Chairman Philippe Guidez said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

Credits will be issued to farmers supplying milk to Danone Ukraine to increase cattle numbers, buy necessary equipment, and to improve milk quality and production efficiency.

It is planned that loans will be issued at 16-19% per annum. Danone Ukraine will reimburse farmers from 6-9% of the interest rate. The interest rate on the credits will depend on the size of the borrowers business and their creditworthiness.

Guidez said that loans would be granted for periods from six months to four or five years.

Danone Ukraine Director General Dario Marchetti expressed hope that the project would be successful and the amount of preferential lending to farmers would be increased.

Danone Group, a world leader in dairy production, has been working in Ukraine since 1998. In 2006, the company acquired the Rodych dairy factory in Kherson, which was modernized and renamed Danone Dnipro.

The company sells products under the Actimel, Activia, Rastishka, Danissimo, Zhyvynka, and Vesely Pastushok brands in Ukraine.

INDEXBANK was founded in 1993. As of January 1, 2011, Credit Agricole S.A. of France owned a 99.9955% stake in the bank.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2011 the bank ranked 35th in terms of total assets, estimated at UAH 5.332 billion, among the 175 operating banks in Ukraine.