Social banks committed to gov't targets

Staff of the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies in Tri Qua Commune of northern Bac Ninh Province's Thuan Thanh District assist needy households to borrow loans. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

In Decision No 2525/QD-TTg issued on December 31, 2015, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung set the year-on-year credit growth rates at 4.5 per cent for the Viet Nam Development Bank (VDB), and 8 per cent for the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) this year.

He assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to allocate detailed lending quotas for the institutions.

He particularly designated VDB to reserve loans worth VND10 trillion (US$444 million) for exports and distribute official development assistance (ODA) worth VND12 trillion ($533 million) in 2016.

VDB General Director Tran Ba Huan told its meeting last week that it would continue to implement tasks in accordance with a strategy that the government adopted for it until 2020, with vision to 2030.

The development bank, with VND30 trillion ($1.33 billion) in equity, focuses lending in such areas as socio-economic infrastructure, support industries, agriculture and rural areas, besides education, healthcare and environmental protection, along with green technology and clean and recycled energy.

It also finances important exports, distributes ODA capital to specific projects, and guarantees loans borrowed by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Huan said the bank would need to mobilise funds worth some $2.23 billion to assure the disbursement progress and liquidity security this year, while Dung enabled it to issue government guaranteed bonds worth VND25 trillion ($1.11 billion) this year.

Last year, the VDB raised funds of more than VND47 trillion ($2.09 billion) for major national projects, and it disbursed nearly VND17 trillion ($755.56 million), besides having around VND20 trillion ($888.89 million) implemented.

Several key projects were inaugurated while some others were completed in important phases. These included Ha Noi-Hai Phong Highway, the Son La-Lai Chau 500kV electric line, the Lai Chau hydroelectric plant, and the Bac Lieu wind power factory.

The bank also lent VND8.8 trillion ($391 million) for exports during 2015.

In 2016, Huan said the bank would try to improve the quality of credit, diversify services and foster organisational restructuring for more efficient operations.

Meanwhile, VBSP Deputy General Director Tran Lan Phuong told its meeting on January 10 that the bank would extend lending to meet the allocated credit growth target of 8 per cent this year.

The bank, entrusted by the government to eradicate hunger, reduce poverty and ensure social security, mobilised about VND147 trillion ($6.53 billion) and lent more than VND142 trillion ($6.31 billion) to nearly 6.9 million poor households and other beneficiaries of special policies last year.

As of December 31, 2015, it helped about 400,000 households get above the poverty line, created jobs for 173,000 people, and assisted 103,000 pupils and students, besides supporting the construction of 7,800 houses for the poor in the country's central and southern regions.

The bank would prioritise loans for provinces with high poverty rates and impoverished localities in border and island areas in 2016, while it actively reviewed poor households following standards for the next five years.

In his decision, Prime Minister Dung asked the banks to especially monitor financing for the concretisation of irrigational canals and channels and roads in rural areas, following an ongoing national programme. People's committees of provinces and cities directly under the central government were required to review how they carried out the programme as of the end of 2015, and propose capital needed to implement it during 2016. The local authorities are to submit reports on this to the MPI and the Ministry of Finance by January 31, before they are presented to the prime minister for consideration by the end of March.

According to official data, the country's total investment capital for development is estimated to reach 31 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), while the GDP is expected to grow by 6.7 per cent this year.