Customers buy vegetables at a supermarket in HCM City (Photo: VNA) To run until March 31 next year, it has attracted the participation of 50 businesses, including some with popular brands, and six banks and credit institutions, who have earmarked 11.34 trillion VND (491 million USD) to lend to the participating firms.
Their long-term interest rates will be 6.5-11.3 percent and short-term interest rates will be 4.5 percent.
Face masks and hand sanitisers were added to the list of essential goods last year, and the 10 earlier ones are rice, noodles and vermicelli; sugar; cooking oil; eggs; cattle meat; poultry meat; vegetables; processed foods; seafood; and seasoning.
The programme also covers dairy products and items when schools function.
The goods sold under the programme normally meet 25-30 percent of market demand, but accounted for 35-50 percent amid the pandemic last year.
Firms in the programme need to stockpile 15-20 percent more goods than normal to prepare for COVID-19 emergency responses.
As usual, they have to register their prices with the Department of Finance, with those of essential goods being 5-10 percent lower than market prices and 10-15 percent in case of school items.
Goods sold through the programme should be locally made with clear origins that meet hygiene and food safety standards and are of assured quality.
This year the city plans to help participating businesses expand their sales networks and encourage them to tie up with modern distribution channels like supermarkets and convenience stores, develop sales points at traditional markets, industrial parks, export processing zones, and outlying districts, and organise mobile sales trips to enable more consumers to buy their goods.
It also encourages firms to invest more in improving packaging and designs and diversifying their products./.
VNA
