Egypt's President Abdel- Fattah El-Sisi has issued a presidential decree to transfer oversight of the Agricultural Development and Credit Bank from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), renaming it the Egyptian Agricultural Bank.
The new establishment will run as a joint stock entity with state-owned capital.
The presidential decree, published in the state's official gazette on Monday, stipulates that the duty of the bank is to provide funding of various types to agricultural and rural development activities in accordance with the state's goals for agricultural development.
According to the decree, the bank will also provide the necessary funding for agricultural production, including the importing of essential inputs, and provide the full range of banking services.
In November, the Egyptian parliament approved a law to transfer supervision of the Agricultural Development and Credit Bank, placing it under the direct administration of the CBE instead of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Agricultural Development and Credit Bank was formed in 1930, initially under the name of the Agricultural Loaning Bank, to provide loans to Egyptian farmers.
