Within the framework of the Vietnam Agriculture Symposium 2018 and Exhibition on the achievements of the 10-year Implementation of the Central Party Committee’s Resolution on Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas, a Conference Session with the theme of “Investment and Development Prospects for Vietnam’s Agricultural Products in the context of International Integration” was organized in Hanoi on November 26, 2018.
The Conference was co-chaired by Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Vice Minister Tran Thanh Nam of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vice Minister Cao Quoc Hung of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Vice President Hoang Quang Phong of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
At the Conference Session, Mr. Tran Van Tan, Deputy Director General of the SBV’s Credit Department made a presentation about the credit policies for agriculture and rural development. Accordingly, the SBV has submitted to the Government for issuance several priority credit policies for this sector, starting with Decree No.41/2010/ND-CP of the Government dated April 12, 2010 on the credit policies for agricultural and rural development. During its 4-year of implementation, Decree 41 contributed greatly to the promotion of credits for agriculture and rural development, transforming the economic structure and accelerating the industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas. On the basis of capital demands for the implementation of the Agriculture Restructuring Plan approved by the Prime Minister, the SBV submitted to the Government for issuance Decree No.55/2015/ND-CP, which replaces Decree 41 and provides more incentives. The SBV also issued the Circulars guiding the implementation of Decree 41 and Decree 55, and many policies on encouraging investment in agriculture and rural areas.
Moreover, the SBV also issued many documents to create a legal framework for the operations of the people’s credit funds and the micro-finance institutions to ensure social protection and sustainable poverty reduction, especially in the rural areas. The SBV has also actively directed the implementation of the credit policies for poor households and policy beneficiaries in the National Targeted Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction and the National Targeted Program on New Rural Development; collaborated with the socio-political organizations such as Vietnam Farmers' Union, Vietnam Women's Union, and other socio-political organizations to effectively provide the people with the needed finance, helping millions of farmers to access and effectively utilise bank loans.
Initial encouraging results
Thanks for the conduct of the comprehensive measures and policies, over the past ten years, in addition to Agribank, 66 credit institutions and over 1,000 people’s credit funds have also been involved in providing loans for agriculture and rural areas. Credit for agriculture and rural areas has been on a constant rise over the years, with an average growth of 19.5% during 2008-2017 period. By end of September, 2018, the loan outstanding for this sector reached VND 1,665,836 billion, up by 13.2% in comparison with that of the end of 2017, and accounting for 23.9% of the total loan outstanding. The loan outstanding for new rural development since 2010 has reached VND 900 trillion, 4 times higher than that of the end of 2010. The loan outstanding for poor households and policy beneficiaries at Vietnam Bank for Social Policies has reached VND 184,727 billion, 5 times higher than that of early 2008.
Moreover, the SBV has advised the Government and the Prime Minister to gradually formulate specific credit mechanisms for the typical key agricultural products such as rice, seafood, coffee…, lending policies to encourage high-tech and clean agriculture in accordance with Resolution No.30/NQ-CP dated March 7, 2017; the credit policies to encourage agricultural production in the value chain model, promoting investments into modern machinery and equipment to reduce post-harvest losses in order to improve the productivity and quality of the products, meeting the increasingly strict requirements of the markets.
The banking sector is committed as a continuous companion of agriculture, farmers and rural areas
With the spirit of being a close companion with the development of agriculture and rural areas, in the coming time, the banking sector will conduct several specific measures, specificially as follows: Continue to instruct CIs to expand credit and prioritize loans for agriculture and rural areas; promptly implement measures to remove the difficulties for the people to get access to bank loans; promptly issue guidelines to CIs to implement the credit policies in accordance with Decree No.116/2018/ND-CP; strengthen the coordination with the line ministries and agencies to continue the effective implementation of the specific credit programs for the agriculture sector under the guidance of the Government and the Prime Minister; continue to direct the banking system to speed up the administrative procedure reform, simplify loan procedures to improve accessibility to loans for farmers and agricultural enterprises; instruct credit institutions to promote high-tech applications; promote communication and guidance for the enterprises, the people, especially those in the rural areas, to understand and use the hi-tech products in the Industry 4.0 era.
Representatives from the line ministries and agencies at the discussion session
In order to implement Resolution No.26-NQ/TW in a consistent and effective manner, the SBV has also proposed a number of recommendations for improving the institutions, mechanisms and policies for agriculture, farmers and rural areas, and implement the policies to support agricultural production,...
Also at the Conference Session, the representatives from the line ministries and agencies also answered many questions from the participants in search of the solutions to promote investment and development prospects for Vietnam’s agricultural and rural products in the context of international integration.
Le Hang