Policy credit brings facelift to Kien Giang

Ong Van Ngay, Secretary of Giang Thanh Party Committee in the Mekong delta province of Kien Giang, revealed that of the programmes and measures geared towards poverty reduction and ensuring social wellbeing in the border district, the most effective has been leveraging policy credit to boost the local economy and enhance quality of life.

A transaction point of VBSP Kien Giang in An Hoa ward, Rach Gia city

“The enforcement of the Secretariat's Directive 40 has been deemed a breakthrough in the robust growth of policy credit sources, as well as bolstering its usage efficiency. The people are the key beneficiaries in the poverty reduction process and are accumulating wealth in a legitimate manner,” said Ngay.

One example is the family of Nguyen Thi Diem in Ham Ninh commune who started a business using a loan of $2,080 from Vietnam Bank for Social Policies' (VBSP) Kien Giang Branch to grow 200 square metres of safe vegetables and raise 10 pigs, generating nearly $4,200 in annual income.

Doan Cong Thiet, director of VBSP's Kien Giang branch, noted that after 10 years of implementing Directive 40, the branch has fulfilled its pioneering role, making significant contributions to the successful implementation of the province’s socioeconomic development plans.

The highlight of the decade has been the positive response of the entire political system, departments, and organisations in the province, who have mobilised diverse financial resources and policy credit sources to help people reduce poverty, improve their lives, and raise their incomes.

The provincial financial sector has based these efforts on the local budget situation, providing timely and accurate advice, while helping authorities from provincial to district and commune levels prioritise the transfer of supplemental capital sources to VBSP Kien Giang to better meet the borrowing needs of poor households and other policy beneficiaries.

Over $20 million of state authorised capital is being transferred to VBSP Kien Giang Branch this year to lend to special policy beneficiaries, demonstrating the attention of local management authorities in the process of implementing Directive 40 to support needy people in the province.

This is of great significance as it has helped concentrate diverse financial sources into a single agency, contributing to boosting the total capital available at VBSP Kien Giang Branch to $254.3 million as of April 30, surging $163.6 million compared to a decade ago.

At the same time, the total outstanding policy credit balance in the area has touched $250 million, and the capital mobilised by the whole VBSP Kien Giang system has also grown significantly, accounting for 9.8 per cent of total local policy credit sources.

Along with mobilising large capital sources from diverse channels, VBSP Kien Giang Branch has been proactive in policy credit provision, fully and promptly meeting the production and business requirements of local people.

The team of policy credit officers has also matured on its journey for social wellbeing. Currently, most staff members have university or post-graduate degrees and the skills to efficiently perform their tasks.

Over the past 10 years, policy credit capital has helped 402,000 poor households and other policy beneficiaries to borrow preferential loans, helping more than 58,000 households break from poverty and creating jobs for over 46,000 workers, including 463 people who borrowed capital to work overseas.

In addition, nearly 18,000 students in difficult circumstances have received loans for their studies, and over 283,000 clean water facilities, standard toilets, and 5,000 houses have been built for poor households and those affected by floods in the Mekong Delta.

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