3. Agricultural Credit Markets during Transition
Agricultural credit markets in well-developed and functioning market economies
work imperfectly. In addition, a series of specific, transition-related, problems have worsened
the problems of financing the Central and Eastern European agricultural economy since 1989
(Petranov and Roussinov, 1994). This section attempts to expand on a number of these
issues, providing examples where appropriate.
The concept of credit under central planning
The concept, nature and role of "credit" is quite different in a planned economy
verses a market economy. In a market economy, the main monetary policy instrument is the
control of the total money supply, leaving the allocation of credit inside the economy largely to
independent financial institutions which base their lending policies on assessments of risk and
financial returns. In centrally planned economies the main monetary policy instrument was
credit allocation. A financial plan ensured the realisation of physical targets, as expressed in
the state plan. The plan specified quotas for working capital, long term loans for financing
investment and public money holdings. Credit was provided through the central bank to
farmers for these investments, typically with a negative real interest rate, not based on merit
and often used as a way to support unsuccessful enterprises (McKinnon 1990; Blejer and
Sagari, 1991; Calomiris, 1993).
One could even argue that under the centrally planned system, credit was less a
monetary than an accounting instrument. This different role of credit is a factor in explaining
agricultural producers’ strong insistence on preferential credits, i.e. credit at low interest rates:
why does one need to pay for using an 'accounting mechanism'? Therefore, addressing the
'credit issue' includes, besides the economic allocation problems, also a
psychological/educational factor in explaining the role of credit in an economy, and that the
use of credit has a price, i.e. the interest rate. Presently, many private farmers and farm
managers are having difficult recognising this, as can been seen by the responses in Tables 1.
Similarly, the attitude towards trading and marketing is very different under both
systems. While marketing and trading are considered vital elements of a well functioning
market system, traders ("speculators") are often blamed for increasing prices and reaping
profits on the back of "producers" without producing anything for the economy 1 .