Data released yesterday by the Central Bank stated that the number of checks dealt with, during the first four months of this year, amounted to 7.5 million checks, with a total value of 357.6 billion dirhams.
The data indicated that the total deposits made with the Central Bank amounted to 74 billion dirhams, while withdrawals from it amounted to 88 billion dirhams during the same period.
She added that the value of financial transfers, which were made through the Emirates Financial Transfer System during the comparison period, reached 3.5 trillion dirhams, of which 2.3 trillion dirhams were inter-bank transfers, while customer transfers reached 1.2 trillion dirhams.
In addition, the banking system support for the agricultural sector increased during the first quarter of 2020, when more than 500 million dirhams were pumped as financial facilities for projects operating in the sector during the period from January to March last.
The increase in the dose of financial facilities provided to the agricultural sector is in line with the state’s directions in implementing the food security strategy, which has become a priority on the agenda of the federal and local governments alike.
The financial facilities provided by banks to the agricultural sector during the first quarter of this year are the largest in several years and contributed to raising the total cumulative balance of the facilities to 1.55 billion dirhams at the end of March 2020, compared to 1.05 billion dirhams in December 2019.
The year 2019 witnessed a lull in financing the agricultural sector, as shown by the statistics issued by the Central Bank, the same situation that also prevailed during 2018.