0% Loans from Agricultural Bank: Are They Really Better?

In mid-January, the Dominican Agricultural Bank (Bagrícola) reported that by the end of 2025 its assets stood at RD$45,871 million, 70% higher than those registered in 2020; while its loan portfolio stood at RD$56,769 million.

However, these and other data, by legal regulations, must be sent to the Superintendency of Banks (SB), as a regulatory body, an institution that until now has not published any indicator referring to the financial statements of the state banking entity for the promotion of the agricultural sector.

And it is not that the data does not reach the regulatory body, since it has been reported that before, in previous administrations, this step was not fulfilled. However, starting in 2021, the financial entity began to send its reports to the SB, a source indicated. elDinero.

But why doesn’t the SB publish that data? The reason is that Bagrícola’s operations are not properly updated or organized in what is known as “core” banking, that is, its online data in real time.

For more than four years, the regulatory body of the financial system has been accompanying Bagrícola executives to install an updated “banking computing core,” since the way in which they manage their data is not consistent nor does it allow for effective control of their operations for regulatory purposes.

Even so, the Agricultural Bank, because it is owned by the State and has sufficient assets, does not represent a risk of bankruptcy, nor does it put depositors’ resources at risk, “but it urgently needs to be reformed,” indicated the source, giving as an example other State banks such as the Reserves and the Export Development Bank (Bandex) that do keep their data updated and are published by the SB.

Zero rate loans

The Agricultural Bank has lent a total of RD$157,510 million in the last five years, according to its administrator Fernando Durán. This gives an annual average of RD$31,502 million. However, this annual amount has been decreasing, since in 2025 the formalized loans totaled RD$26,642 million (15.4% less than the average), of which RD$25,899.7 million were disbursed.

Of the amount formalized in 2025, 4% (RD,192.2 million) corresponded to zero-rate loans, while 96% was lent at the regular average rate of 8% annually, also partially subsidized by the Dominican State.

But in loans with a 0% interest rate, an unusual situation occurred in 2025, very different from what had been happening in previous years.

For example, in 2024 Bagrícola formalized loans for RD$27,349.9 million. Of that amount, RD$1,298.4 million went to 0%. Taking the number of loans granted as a reference, those with 8% annual interest averaged RD$1.2 million, at a rate of RD$22,974 per task. While zero-rate financing was an average amount of RD$1.9 million per beneficiary, at a rate of RD$30,282/task.

Variation in 2025

During the past year 2025, the financing amounts varied significantly. The average of regular loans at an annual rate of 8% was RD$1.3 million for each beneficiary, while for beneficiaries with a zero rate, the average loaned was RD$7.6 million.

Statistical data from the Agricultural Bank indicate that in 2025 only 143 loans were granted at a zero rate, but with amounts that, on average, are 5.6 times greater than those granted with a rate of 8%.

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With these results, and taking as reference the number of beneficiaries and the number of tasks to be harvested, it is clear that the loans with a rate of 8% resulted in RD$24,366 per task (an average close to that of previous years), but the loans at zero rate resulted in RD$188,652 per task, taking into account the amount of each loan and the number of beneficiaries, which far exceeded the averages of previous years.

In this regard, recently, the former administrator of the Agricultural Bank, Carlos Segura Foster, reported on the program El Despertador, on Color Visión, that the zero-rate loans granted by that institution are being allocated to a few large agribusinessmen, to the detriment of small farmers, who are the ones who need them most.

Although there were zero-rate loans in the years 2021 and 2022, Banco Agricola’s indicators do not break down the amounts. The breakdown appears only in the years 2023 to 2025.

Explanation

Regarding the zero rate loan program, Fernando Durán has reported that “it has been discontinued and the recovered resources are being dedicated to basically support three initiatives: transferring to the zero rate program a practically unpayable debt of the greenhouse producers of Rancho Arriba, Ocoa, contracted in the previous government, without mortgage guarantees, for RS$1,400 million; a debt exceeding RD$1,200 million contracted in the previous government without guarantee for the banana growers of the Northwest Line and execute the Campo Joven initiative, whose program has lent more than RD$200 million interest-free to youth projects.”