DAMMAM, 4 February — The Agricultural Bank in the Eastern Province has denied charges that it has stopped giving loans to fishermen following the failure by some of them to repay their debts due to a drop in shrimp harvest.
Muhammad Abdullah Al-Majel, director of the Agricultural Bank’s branch in Qateef, said the bank continues to give loans to fishermen as part of a government policy to extend soft loans and credit services to benefit vast sections of the population. "The bank has not stopped giving loans to fishermen at any point during the past 38 years. The volume of loans in fact increased over that period," Al-Majel said.
Fishermen in Qateef were alarmed when the Ministry of Communications announced that their boat licenses would not be renewed this year if they did not settle their debts to the Agricultural Bank.
Fishermen affected by this policy said that they have been compelled to suspend their work because of the heavy losses they have been suffering in the past few fishing seasons. Because of the losses, they had failed to make installments on loans for three years.
Al-Majel said that the bank followed the general principles of payment and recovery governing government-sponsored loans. He added that the demand for the repayment of debt involved formalities such as notices, reminders and warnings, and finally seeking the help of government departments to compel the customers to settle the loans. The loans have to be repaid over a 10-year period.
Speaking about this year’s fall in the shrimp harvest, the official said that the bank did not have any control over the methods, locations and seasons that govern the lives of the fishermen.
