President Petro asks the financial system to lower intermediation rates

President Colombian, Gustavo Petroasked this Thursday the financial system, including the state-owned Banco Agrario, to make an effort to lower intermediation rates and avoid a crisis in the banks because people would not have the economic capacity to pay the loans.

“From here I ask the financial system, mostly private, but also the Banco Agrario, which is public, to make an effort to lower the intermediation rate”said the head of state during the delivery of 29 properties to peasants, indigenous people and demobilized, in what he described as “first action” of agrarian reform.

During the title delivery ceremony held in a rural area of ​​Montería (north), the Colombian ruler said that this year is “fundamental” lower interest rates.

“This year, what is happening in the financial system is that it remains a prisoner of greed, the possibility of lower profits compared to the past is not allowed, the global economic crisis that reaches our territory could well cause a financial crisis, a crisis of the banks, because people will not be able to pay credits”, said.

Petro reinforced his request arguing that although it is true that lowering the intermediation rate decreases the profits of the financial system, but with that it can be “Preserve the financial system, jobs and productive activity in Colombia so that next year we can breathe better.”

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Referring to the delivery of 3,500 hectares of land, Petro said that 6,195 families from different parts of the country who are peasants, demobilized and indigenous benefit.

In defending the agrarian reform, he said that Colombia has “one of the largest land concentration indices on the entire planet in relation to Earth.”

“It is the highest in Latin America, there is no neighboring country on our continent that is as unequal in the distribution of land as Colombia”he added.

He explained that the new owners, in addition to the land, will be given financial support so that they can sell their first crops and, additionally, they will be given a home.

He also insisted that small farmers do not have to worry because what the government is looking for is that the lands that are going to be distributed come from the large owners who will buy their farms.

Although the land delivery ceremony was held in Montería, there are properties in other parts of Colombia, especially in the departments of Huila, Caquetá, Nariño, Tolima, Magdalena, Cesar, Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Risaralda, among others.

For his part, the general director of the National Land Agency, Gerardo Vega, highlighted that “More than one million hectares of land have already been formalized and it is expected to award at least 500,000 more in 2023.

Likewise, between August 2022 and January 2023, 50 properties were purchased with the Agency’s own budget, corresponding to 3,496 hectares, of which 42 have already been physically delivered.

Source: EFE