INTERMEDIARY RELENDING PROGRAM

  The Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) has received a $3 million, one percent loan from the Rural Economic and Community Development Service (RECDS, formerly Farmers Home Administration) for business and community development projects in rural Arkansas. A combination of Intermediary Relending Program (IRP), ADFA and private funds will be used as a method of leveraging limited resources and lowering the effective interest rates available through the Authority's existing loan programs. Use of IRP funds cannot exceed $150,000 per borrower and cannot comprise more than 50 percent of the total project cost. IRP funds must be used in communities of 25,000 people or less.

  IRP funds will be used to complement the following ADFA programs: Industrial Development Bond, Export Finance, Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, Capital Access and Agricultural Cooperative Loan. Below is an examples of how the funds are combined:

• The Industrial Development Bond Program provides long-term, low-interest, fixed-rate financing to manufacturing companies by issuing taxable and tax-exempt bonds. IRP funds are offered at rates that are lower than bond financings. Used together, the bond proceeds and IRP funds provide an overall financing package that make expanding or locating businesses in rural Arkansas more attractive.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT ADFA'S IRP PROGRAM CALL GENE EAGLE, VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT FINANCE, AT (501) 682-5900.