Preferential loans create momentum for economic development.

With numerous preferential credit programs for lending to poor households, near-poor households, households engaged in production and business in disadvantaged areas, loans for job creation, loans for clean water and sanitation... In recent times, the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has promptly provided policy capital to the people, contributing to job creation and promoting the socio-economic development of the locality.

The family of Ms. Do Thi Loan in Quyen Chuong village, Cao Duong commune, previously relied solely on rice and corn cultivation, lacking any supplementary occupation, leading to considerable hardship. Lacking capital for economic development, her family was classified as a poor household in the village and commune for many years. However, thanks to preferential government policies, through the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, Ms. Loan's family received a 30 million VND loan under the poverty alleviation program to purchase two breeding buffaloes.

Currently, Loan's family has escaped poverty. Loan continued to borrow 50 million VND from the job creation program to invest in buying buffaloes and 20 million VND from the clean water and sanitation program to invest in building a water tank and sanitation facilities.

Credit officers from the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies inspect a loan model for growing medicinal plants in Cao Duong commune.

Implementing the rural clean water and sanitation loan program, the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (NHCSXH) always closely cooperates with local authorities and organizations to raise awareness and promote environmental protection among the people. Visiting the family of Mr. Bui Van Tu in Sau Thuong hamlet, Cao Duong commune, we learned that previously, daily life in the family was very inconvenient because they had to draw water from a deep well for use.

In 2021, thanks to preferential loans from the Social Policy Bank and additional loans from relatives, the family built a self-contained outbuilding including a bathroom, water tank, and septic system. Now, daily life is much more convenient, and the family feels secure using clean water stored in standard-compliant tanks. In 2024, the family borrowed an additional 100 million VND from the employment program to invest in planting 5 hectares of black sesame plants, which are now beginning to yield harvests.

Loan and Tư's family are just two of thousands of farming households in Cao Dương commune that have received preferential loans to develop production and have achieved positive results.

Officials at the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies disburse loans to local people.

As a credit institution serving poor households and other policy beneficiaries, the lending and debt collection activities of the Luong Son District Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies mainly take place at 11 transaction points in 3 communes with 229 savings and loan groups, creating favorable and timely access to loan capital for poor households, near-poor households, and policy beneficiaries.

Currently, the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) is implementing 15 policy credit programs. Among them, the employment creation loan program has the highest outstanding balance, reaching over 225 billion VND with 4,703 borrowing households; the clean water and sanitation loan program has an outstanding balance of nearly 200 billion VND with 8,345 borrowing households... Over 98% of the capital is channeled through entrusted socio- political organizations.

Village associations and savings and credit groups have effectively fulfilled their entrusted role, acting as an extension of the Social Policy Bank in managing capital at the grassroots level, especially in the process of reviewing loan applications to ensure they are granted to the right recipients and delivering capital directly to those in need. At the same time, they guide, direct, and monitor the use of capital to ensure it is used efficiently and for the intended purpose.

Therefore, thanks to preferential loan capital, many poor households, near-poor households, and other policy beneficiaries in the communes have been able to invest in developing agricultural and livestock farming, bringing about economic efficiency. From the preferential loan capital of the Social Policy Bank of Luong Son, over 7,000 rural sanitation and environmental protection projects have been built, contributing to improving people's lives; creating jobs for over 4,500 workers; and hundreds of disadvantaged students have received loans to pursue their studies. Currently, 15,352 households are using loans from the Social Policy Bank of Luong Son with outstanding debt exceeding 506 billion VND, and the overdue debt rate is low at 0.01%.

According to Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of the Luong Son Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP), after the merger, the branch is responsible for three communes: Luong Son, Cao Duong, and Lien Son. To ensure that all activities related to policy credit are maintained smoothly and without interruption, following the direction of the Provincial VBSP Branch, the branch has advised the People's Committees of the communes on strengthening the direction to stabilize policy credit activities after the administrative unit reorganization and merger; and quickly arranged convenient transaction points for the VBSP to serve the people. After the merger, many savings and loan groups have a larger scale and wider scope of operation, so the branch has organized training to improve the skills of associations and group leaders to meet the requirements of the task.

Therefore, the preferential credit programs implemented by the Luong Son branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies in the past have been and are proving to be effective, having a strong impact on the lives of the poor and policy beneficiaries in the area, creating conditions for them to improve and gradually enhance their quality of life, contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality.

Dinh Thang

Source: https://baophutho.vn/von-vay-uu-dai-tao-dong-luc-phat-trien-kinh-te-240083.htm