FARM CREDIT SEEN NEEDING UP TO 4.5 BILLION DLRS
The Farm Credit System will need
3-4.5 billion dlrs in federal assistance to cover losses over
the next three years, a member of the board of the System's
regulatory agency said.
    Jim Billington, member of the three-person board of
directors of the Farm Credit Administration, said he intended
to ask the board on May 5 to vote to certify that the ailing
farm lending network needs federal aid.
    Billington, the sole Democrat on the board, said the System
would need federal aid sooner than suggested by a FCA report,
which said assistance would be required by the end of 1987.
    "I would say the System will require outside financial
assistance possibly by July 1 if System districts don't lend
unsecured credit to one another to meet collateral problems," he
said.
    FCA officials today disclosed that efforts by the System's
districts to reach a collateral-sharing agreement has been
suspended.
 Reuter
