Reduce lending interest rates for some policy credit programs

New interest rates apply to a number of policy credit programs at the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.

The Prime Minister has just issued Decision No. 750/QD-TTg on adjusting and reducing lending interest rates for a number of policy credit programs at the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.

Specifically, interest rates for loans to the poor, loans for students, loans for policy beneficiaries working abroad for a limited period, and loans from the National Employment Fund have decreased from 7.2%/year (0.6%/month) to 6.6%/year (0.55%/month).

Interest rates for loans for the Rural Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Program and loans for households producing and doing business in difficult areas have been reduced from 9.6%/year (0.8%/month) to 9.0%/year (0.75%/month).

This Decision takes effect from June 5, 2015 and applies to new loans from the date the Decision takes effect.

According to the Report of the Social Policy Bank, after 12 years of operation, with a network extending from the central to the grassroots level and organizing direct transactions at nearly 11,000 commune transaction points, the Social Policy Bank has mobilized 136,750 billion VND for lending with total outstanding debt as of December 31, 2014 reaching 129,456 billion VND, more than 18 times higher than the time of establishment.

According to statistics, over 25.5 million poor households, near-poor households and policy beneficiaries have received loans from the Social Policy Bank with a total loan turnover of over VND 285 trillion. Credit capital has contributed to helping over 3.6 million households overcome the poverty line; attracting and creating jobs for over 11 million workers, including over 104,000 workers working abroad for a limited period; helping over 3.3 million students in difficult circumstances to get loans for their studies; building over 6 million clean water supply works, hygienic toilets in rural areas, nearly 700 flood shelters for poor households in 7 Central provinces, over 102,000 flood shelters for households in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands, nearly 484,000 houses for poor households and policy households without housing nationwide.

The above results have contributed to the goal of rapid and sustainable poverty reduction, thereby contributing to the country's socio-economic development achievements./.

According to VOV