Promoting sustainable development loan program for one million hectares of rice cultivation

DNVN - The State Bank is committed to continuing to accompany and actively coordinate with relevant agencies, promoting the implementation of the loan program to implement the project "Sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030".

Pursuant to Decision No. 1490/QD-TTg dated November 27, 2023 of the Prime Minister approving the Project "Sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030", the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has coordinated with ministries, branches and localities to develop a Loan Program linking production, processing and consumption of high-quality and low-emission rice products in the Mekong Delta.

The lending program is in two phases, in which the pilot phase from now until the end of 2025 is with Agribank as the main lending bank and the expansion phase from the end of the pilot to 2030 is with credit institutions (CIs) lending.

The credit institution lends using its own capital, so the lending is carried out under a commercial mechanism with lending conditions according to the current regulations of the credit institution for customers. The purpose of lending is to meet the short, medium and long-term capital needs of all stages (production, purchasing, processing, consumption) in the rice linkage.

The State Bank has many preferential policies on loans for the sustainable development project of one million hectares of high-quality rice cultivation.

Regarding lending interest rates, credit institutions proactively balance capital sources and reduce costs to consider applying lending interest rates at least 1%/year lower than the lending interest rate of the corresponding term currently applied to customers of the same term/same group.

Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the People's Committees of provinces and cities have not yet announced the actual cost norms for rice production in rice linkages, so credit institutions have no basis to assess the capital needs for the linkage chains according to the project. However, in principle, the ability to disburse depends on the actual capital absorption capacity of the entities participating in the linkage.

In addition to the above-mentioned preferential interest rate reduction of 1%, entities participating in rice linkages also enjoy many other incentives according to the provisions of Decree 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 9, 2015, Decree 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 7, 2018 of the Government on credit policies for agricultural and rural development.

Specifically, the maximum unsecured loan amount is from 100 million VND to 3 billion VND (depending on individual customers, cooperatives, and cooperatives). The loan policy encourages agricultural production under the linkage model and high-tech agriculture with unsecured loans up to 70%-80% of the value of the plan or project.

Credit institutions restructure debt repayment terms and maintain debt groups for customers facing difficulties due to objective and force majeure reasons. The debt rescheduling mechanism is applied to customers facing risks due to natural disasters and large-scale epidemics or customers who are key affiliated organizations or high-tech enterprises facing risks due to objective and force majeure reasons.

In the coming time, closely following the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, with the coordination of ministries, branches and localities, the State Bank of Vietnam is committed to continuing to accompany and actively coordinate with relevant agencies to promote the implementation of the lending program in particular and the project "Sustainable development of one million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030".

Ha Anh

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/tai-chinh-ngan-hang/day-manh-chuong-trinh-cho-vay-phat-trien-ben-vung-mot-trieu-hec-ta-chuyen-canh-lua/20241015061709242