Determinants of Access to Credit for Corporate Farms in Russia

Access to agricultural credit is analysed using logit regression for a sample of corporate farms included in the 2003 BASIS survey. As is normal in market economies, more profitable farms have a higher probability of borrowing from financial institutions. On the other hand, contrary to the pattern in market economies, asset endowments (land and capital stock) have a very weak effect on the ability to borrow, reflecting the low collaterisability of farm assets in Russia. Overdue debt does not significantly restrict the ability to borrow in our analysis, presumably because of the general acceptance of soft budget constraints in the system.