§ 96. Mr. Godberasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the rates of interest payable on loans from the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation from its inception up to the present time; whether the new rate of 8½ per cent. has been approved under the Government's new policy, coming as it did after 20th July, 1966; and whether the rate of 8½ per cent. will be taken as the basis for calculations of the cost of farmers long-term credit in the discussions leading up to the 1967 Agricultural Price Review.
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§ Mr. PeartThe following is the list of rates of interest on mortgage loans charged by the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation since its inception:
Rate Operative from 5 per cent. … … 19th December, 1928 4¼ " … … 16th April, 1934 3½ " … … 16th May, 1944 4 " … … 4th November, 1949 4¼ " … … 17th May, 1951 4¾ " … … 26th November, 1951 5½ " … … 26th February, 1952 6 " … … 7th August, 1952 5½ " … … 14th May, 1953 5 " … … 26th November, 1953 4½ " … … 20th May, 1954 5½ " … … 4th August, 1955 5¾ " … … 31st July, 1956 6 " … … 26th July, 1957 7 " … … 10th October, 1957 6 " … … 25th July, 1958 5½ " … … 23rd April, 1959 6 " … … 26th May, 1960 6½ " … … 14th July, 1960 7 " … … 20th July, 1961 7½ " … … 11th August, 1961 7 " … … 10th May, 1962 6½ " … … 11th October, 1962 6 " … … 18th January, 1963 6½ " … … 6th February, 1964 6¾ " … … 24th April, 1964 7¼ " … … 22nd January, 1965 7¾ " … … 26th May, 1965 8½ " … … 1st August, 1966 As regards the second part of the Question, I would refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave on 5th August to the hon. Member for Norfolk, South-West (Mr. Hawkins).
As regards the last part—the cost of farmers' long-term credit, by agreement with the Farmers' Unions, is not directly taken into account at Agricultural Price Reviews.