Seafood breeders accessing loans at high interest rates

November 15, 2012 | 12:49

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Although the State Bank has instructed five commercial banks to provide loans to pig and seafood breeders at a low interest rate of 11 per cent a year, several breeders are still borrowing at 15 per cent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Farmers harvest Pangasius in the Mekong Delta

The ministry has sent a report to the Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, after coordinating with relevant agencies, to inspect localities and instruct on ways to implement the loan policy in accordance with instructions of the Prime Minister.

An inspection was carried out in An Giang, Dong Thap and Vinh Long provinces and Can Tho City, which supplies 65 per cent of Pangasius in the Mekong Delta.

According to the ministry, commercial banks are too slow in guiding their branches to implement the State Bank’s policy, which was originally aimed to ease difficulties of seafood and pig breeders who have suffered constant losses due to fall in prices and spread of diseases.

The slow implementation has led several farmers to borrow at a higher rate of 15 per cent per annum.

On the other hand, commercial banks have not changed lending conditions and have slowly extended deadlines for farmers for debt repayment, some of whom have mortgaged their properties for loans and are now unable to access new loans.

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