Expanding credit limits to create jobs: A new boost for businesses and workers.
(GLO) - From January 1, 2026, Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP detailing some provisions of the Employment Law on policies to support job creation officially comes into effect with many important adjustments regarding loan limits and interest rates for job creation support policies.
Báo Gia Lai•18/01/2026
Reporters from Gia Lai Newspaper and Radio & Television interviewed Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao Vi, Deputy Director of the Provincial Branch of the Social Policy Bank, to clarify the impacts and future implementation directions of the policy.
▪ Madam, what is the core spirit of Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP on supporting job creation?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao Vi. Photo: D.D.
- From an economic perspective, Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP clearly demonstrates a shift from a "support for survival" mindset to an "investment for development" mindset.
The government's decision to raise the loan limit for small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, and business households to 10 billion VND per project, and to increase the loan amount per worker to a maximum of 200 million VND, has opened up sufficient financial space for production and business establishments to develop medium and long-term investment plans.
Compared to the old mechanism under Decree No. 74/2019/ND-CP, where each project could only borrow a maximum of 2 billion VND and each job created could not exceed 100 million VND, this is a very significant change.
This allows policy credit flows to no longer serve only the immediate need to maintain employment, but to actually become a resource for businesses to innovate technology, improve productivity, and expand production scale.
In other words, job creation credit under Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP has been "upgraded" into a genuine economic growth stimulus tool: it both maintains job stability and creates new jobs through investment incentives, thereby directly contributing to the sustainable development of the local economy.
▪ How will these changes impact the province's economy, Madam?
- It can be seen that Gia Lai has an economy heavily reliant on agriculture, with a large workforce in rural areas and ethnic minority and mountainous regions.
The biggest challenge now is how to shift from raw production to processing, linking supply chains and creating higher added value. With increased loan limits, cooperatives and businesses involved in processing coffee, rubber, sugarcane, and livestock can invest in machinery, factories, storage facilities, and distribution systems in a coordinated manner. This helps increase the value of agricultural products, reduce the migration of labor from rural areas to large cities in search of work, and contribute to the socio-economic stability of the region.
Thanks to job creation funds, households in Ring village (Ia Mơ commune) have been able to switch crops, creating effective employment opportunities. Photo: D.Đ
▪ Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP designs a mechanism for differentiated interest rates based on target groups. In your opinion, what is the significance of this policy for the goals of job creation and social security?
In my opinion, the differentiated interest rate mechanism shows that the State is using policy credit as a tool to regulate the labor market.
When capital costs are reduced for labor-intensive production and business models, capital will naturally flow into sectors that create the greatest social value, thereby both boosting production and expanding employment opportunities for vulnerable groups.
This is a proactive approach that helps credit policy address the capital problem and contributes to inclusive development.
In terms of operation, Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP stipulates that the lending interest rate for small and medium-sized enterprises, business households, and ordinary workers is 127% of the lending interest rate for poor households, while priority groups will be able to borrow at a lower rate, equivalent to that of poor households, with a maximum loan term of 10 years.
The new decree also allows provincial People's Committees to decide on the delegation of local budget funds when necessary, creating more flexibility for localities, especially mountainous and disadvantaged areas.
Therefore, the combination of preferential interest rates and long loan terms helps to allocate credit capital effectively, ensuring both economic efficiency and social welfare goals, especially suitable for disadvantaged areas in the province.
▪ To ensure the policy is implemented effectively, what steps will the Provincial Branch of the Social Policy Bank take?
- We believe that implementing Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP is not just about disbursing funds, but about supporting borrowers. Furthermore, shortening the processing time to 7 working days will help capital flow more quickly to production and business projects.
In addition, the Provincial Branch of the Social Policy Bank has also directed its network of branch offices at the grassroots level to closely coordinate with local authorities and political and social organizations entrusted with capital allocation to thoroughly assess loan plans, prioritizing models that create many jobs, have market linkages, and possess sustainable development potential…
For large loans, requiring loan collateral will contribute to improving financial discipline and ensuring the safety of state capital.
The Hoai An branch of the Social Policy Bank disburses loans to create jobs for local people. Photo: D.D.
Looking back at the results of the job creation loan program in 2025, what are your expectations as we move into the implementation phase of Decree No. 338/2025/ND-CP?
- According to statistics, in 2025, the entire province provided loans totaling over 2,265 billion VND, helping nearly 29,000 workers find new jobs or maintain and expand their existing jobs, with outstanding loans for job creation reaching over 4,518 billion VND.
When the new Decree is implemented and put into practice, with larger loan limits, longer loan terms, and more flexible mechanisms, this capital flow will continue to be effectively "amplified," creating immediate jobs and contributing to the formation of competitive economic models.
I believe this will be a crucial leverage point for the province and localities to promote growth, economic restructuring, and sustainable development in the coming years.
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