Focus on many credit policies for agriculture

The upcoming revised Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP will include new groups of subjects to enjoy preferential capital and credit such as organic and circular agriculture ...

At the Prime Minister's Dialogue Conference with Farmers in 2024 today (December 31), issues of credit for farmers, cooperatives and agricultural enterprises were of concern, especially after the great damage caused by storm No. 3 in 2024.

Deputy Governor of the State Bank Dao Minh Tu said: "Storm No. 3 made landfall and caused huge damage to 26 provinces and cities. According to our preliminary assessment, the outstanding debt of storm No. 3 is very large, including 124,000 customers of 26 provinces and cities, including the impact of floods in the northern mountainous provinces. There is 192 trillion VND of outstanding debt due to the impact of storm No. 3."

After receiving instructions from the Prime Minister, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) immediately stepped in. Two days after the storm, SBV directed credit institutions to take measures to defer, extend, and postpone debts for farmers and businesses affected by the storm.

At that time, the State Bank also held a conference to find solutions to support capital for farmers and businesses to overcome the consequences and restore production.

Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu acknowledged that after the storm, farmers and businesses, especially those in aquaculture in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, suffered heavy losses, with many families losing everything and unable to repay their debts. "In order for people to quickly overcome the consequences and restore production, we recommend that localities coordinate to implement measures such as debt suspension, deferral, and extension immediately. Immediately after that, the State Bank issued Circular 53/2024/TT-NHNN regulating the restructuring of debt repayment terms by credit institutions and foreign bank branches for customers facing difficulties due to the impact and damage caused by storm No. 3 to promptly help people overcome immediate difficulties," said Mr. Tu.

The upcoming credit policy will especially support those participating in linked value chains, programs, and projects - Photo: VGP/Do Huong

Circular 53 consists of 9 articles, stipulating that the subjects eligible for debt restructuring are customers affected by storm No. 3 in 26 localities. Allowing credit institutions and foreign bank branches to consider restructuring the principal and interest balance of loans and financial leases with principal balance arising before September 7, 2023 and debt repayment obligations arising from September 7, 2024 to December 31, 2025.

The debt balance considered for restructuring is still due or overdue for no more than 10 days from the agreed payment due date. However, to support customers to have time to overcome the consequences after the storm, the Circular allows the first restructuring consideration for the debt balance overdue for more than 10 days in the period from September 7, 2024 to the end of 10 days from the effective date of the Circular.

The debt restructuring will be implemented until December 31, 2025 and there is no limit to the number of restructurings. In addition to the general policy, there are specific policies such as capital support for people to restore and reproduce.

The SBV leader said that the number of monetary and credit policies for agriculture and rural areas is greater than other economic sectors. Specifically, there are currently 8 policies for farmers and rural areas to give them incentives. In particular, Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP was issued in 2015, and some contents were amended in 2018. The SBV is currently reviewing it.

Mr. Tu said: "We see that some subjects that need to be added are organic agriculture and circular economy that need to enjoy this policy incentive. All of that content is in the draft of the revised Decree 55, and we also hope that the revised Decree 55 will be issued as soon as possible. There will be open and transparent policies to create conditions for cooperatives and farming households to access loans 2-3 times higher than before without collateral."

This policy especially supports those participating in value chains, programs, and projects such as the 1 million hectares of high-quality rice project in the Mekong Delta and other agricultural linkage programs. These are also preferential subjects in terms of interest rates and loans, as well as support conditions when participating in agricultural insurance.

Source