On the occasion of hosting the Asia – Pacific Financial Inclusion Summit 2017 in Ha Noi, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong granted an interview on several substances relating to the implementation of financial inclusion in Vietnam. SBV Portal posted the whole content of the interview.
Reporter: Thank you so much for joining our interview. Could you tell us about how Vietnamese Government has supported the financial inclusion of Vietnam in recent years?
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong: Over the last few years, the Party and the Government of Vietnam have paid much attention and focused resources to accelerate financial inclusion, and considered it as one of the key socio – economic development areas in the coming years. The Government is formulating National financial inclusion strategy and plans to issue it in 2020 in order to create a background for synchronous and effective implementation of financial inclusion in Vietnam.
Today, Government is concentrating resources to formulate and complete legal framework; boosting financial and technological infrastructure; diversifying financial products and services; setting up mechanism to protect consumers and to accelerate financial education; Creating favorable conditions for vulnerable clients (such as micro and small and medium sized enterprises, poor people and women…) to access easier to financial and banking services; formulating policies to regulate and mobilize resources for implementing financial inclusion from the state management authorities, credit institutions, socio – political organizations and private sectors…
Reporter: What is the the role and the contribution of the SBV to the development of financial inclusion in Vietnam?
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong: The SBV is assigned by the Government to be a leading agency to set up National financial inclusion strategy. Recently, SBV is closely collaborating with Governmental ministries, local authorities and related agencies to communicate and provide sufficient and precise information in timely manner on financial inclusion. The SBV is also effectively cooperate with international organizations and donors to mobilize financial resources and technical assistance to support Vietnam Government to formulate and implement financial inclusion; to review and complete legal framework to support credit institutions in expanding banking operations and services with more focus on rural and remote areas.
Reporter: Deputy Governor has mentioned the fact that Government and SBV are concentrating priorities and supports for poor people, who are living in rural area, and agricultural sector. Could you elaborate some supportive programs of this purpose?
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong: In order to facilitate the agricultural and rural development, the Communist Party and the Government of Vietnam have issued many important guidelines and policies, including Resolution No.26-NQ/TW dated August 5, 2008 by the Central Committee on agriculture, farmers, rural areas to direct the whole political system to participate in the cause of agricultural, rural development and improve the farmers’ living condition; Decision No.899/QĐ-TTg dated June 10, 2013 by Prime Minister on approving the Project of “Restructuring the agricultural sector towards improving added value and sustainable development”; Decision No.1600/QĐ-TTg on the national target program on new rural development in the period of 2016 – 2020 (to replace Decision No.800/QĐ-TTg dated June 4, 2010 and Decision No.695/QĐ-TTg dated June 8, 2012 by Prime Minister) in order to build up the rural areas and improve the material and spiritual life for the farmers.
In addition, the SBV also issued several policies to ask credit institutions to allocate capital resource meeting the capital demand of agricultural and rural areas; applied preferable scheme of interest rate and credit growth for those credit institutions that participating in investing capital for rural sector.
The lending programs are continuously diversified and implemented via people credit funds and micro financial organizations and borrowing units (in collaboration with Vietnam Farmer Union, Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union) …
SBV also issued several credit programs applicable to specific fields in agricultural, rural sector such as Credit policies to support offshore fisheries under Decree No. 67/2014/NĐ-CP; lending policies to re-cultivate coffee tree in the Central Highlands; lending policies to reduce losses in agriculture, etc.
In addition to the policies issued by the SBV, the Policy Bank of Vietnam has also conducted a number of policies to lend to farmers and poor people such as: Lending program for poor households, lending to households who are producing and running business in remote and difficult areas, lending to businessmen in difficult areas, lending to clients under preferential treatment policy to work in overseas countries with limited contract; lending to households newly escaped poverty.
Recently, Prime Minister asked banking industry to allocate a credit package valued VND 100,000 billion to support high tech and clean agricultural enterprises for the aim of encouraging the start up and application of science and technology to develop a smart agriculture in Vietnam. The SBV is collaborating with ministries and industries to do the research on effective conduction of this instruction of the Government.
VMH