Farmers still deprived of lifeline EU subsidies face further uncertainty after a minister said it was impossible to say when the payments will be completed.
Fergus Ewing, the rural secretary, apologised earlier this summer for the administrative debacle which has led to long delays in delivering the common agricultural payments.
The delays, which relate to problems with a £178m IT system, have been said to have a crippling effect on farmers struggling with cash flows, as well as the rural communities they are based in.
About 1,750 payments are still to be completed as of this month.
Peter Chapman, the North East MSP for the Scottish Conservatives, asked Mr Ewing when the remaining eligible businesses will be paid in full.
Mr Ewing replied in a parliamentary written answer: “Over 16,000 businesses have received their full payment.
“At this stage it is not possible to confirm a date for all remaining eligible businesses to be paid, as cases are still undergoing processing.”
The Scottish Government faces the prospect of a £125m fine if all the payments are not delivered by mid-October.
Mr Chapman said: “Farmers who are still waiting for their full payments will be concerned that there appears to be no end in sight to this fiasco.
“The Scottish Government has made progress, but the prospect of millions of pounds in EU fines is still looming if 95% of payments are not made on time.
“The June deadline has already been extended to October 15 and it is imperative that significant progress is made before then.”
Earlier this week, Mr Ewing called on the UK Government to extend its guarantee to match the EU’s CAP funding up to 2020 to include an outstanding pot worth £300m.
