The VND30-trillion credit program for forestry and fisheries sectors attracts the participation of 12 commercial banks - photo: Agribank

Preferential credit

Ha Thu Giang, Director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s Department of Credit for Economic Sectors, said SBV has issued and implemented many policies to channel credit into agriculture and rural development, including forestry and fisheries sectors, to help them reach sustainable development and add value to products and services.

The 12 commercial banks joining the program have so far disbursed over VND17.5 trillion or 58.3 percent of the program’s value to more than 6,500 borrowers. The investment includes VND13 trillion plus disbursed to over 5,000 fisheries businesses, accounting for 74.3 percent of the total, and VND4.45 trillion plus poured in to 1,460 forestry enterprises (25.7 percent).

The credit program has helped forestry and fisheries sectors earn an export value of US$3 billion each and become top-6 export earners in the country, Giang said.

Agribank has disbursed loans totaling VND3 trillion to forestry and fisheries businesses in accordance with the VND30-trillion credit program - photo: Agribank

Breakthrough

Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), stated that Vietnam’s timber and seafood export markets are showing more positive signs as the uncertainties of the previous year are gradually diminishing; inflation is being well controlled; inventories are decreasing; and export prices are gradually increasing. These factors, along with other geopolitical fluctuations, are providing opportunities for Vietnam’s fisheries industry.

The VASEP representative forecast that the market prospects will be brighter in the second half of this year. Therefore, interest rate reductions and credit packages for fisheries and forestry sectors are important and timely to promote and support the sectors’ businesses and farmers. The surveyed seafood exporters and farming and preservation facilities all hope to access low-interest loans, both in US dollar and Vietnamese dong, Nam said.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) has disbursed loans totaling VND3 trillion in accordance with the program. The bank’s leadership said there remain difficulties related to lending activities, including loose contracts, contract violations by enterprise and individual borrowers, and capital disbursement document management.

The Agribank leadership believes that, in addition to the banking sector’s measures and policies, it is necessary for ministries, sectors and localities to have consistent policies to help forestry and fisheries sectors develop production, overcome difficulties and improve the transparency of enterprise finance to make it easier for the banks to assess, verify borrowers and their projects.