Credit for the agricultural sector in the Mekong Delta region has made significant improvements, the Vietnam Economic News reported.
According to the State Bank of Vietnam’s Credit Department, by the end of September, total outstanding loans of credit institutions in the Mekong Delta region reached nearly 332.6 trillion VND, an increase of 7.64 percent compared to the end of last year, accounting for 8.98 percent of the country’s total loans.
By mid-2010, total national outstanding loans for the agricultural sector stood at around 315 trillion VND and half of the amount was provided for the Mekong Delta and the Southeast Vietnam. However, by the end of September, this figure in the Mekong Delta region increased by more than 220 trillion VND.
In the 2011-2013 period, the implementation of Governmental Decree 41/2010/ND-CP and specific agricultural credit programmes such as credit policy for livestock and aquaculture farming based on Document 1149/TTg-KTTH, support policy to reduce losses in agricultural production and lending policy for the rice sector played a key role.
By the end of last year, most credit policies were efficiently implemented. Data released by the Credit Department showed that total national outstanding loans for the agricultural sector reached nearly 672 trillion VND, a 2.3-fold increase compared to 2009, before Decree 41 took effect.
Since the beginning of this year, according to Governmental Resolution 14/NQ-CP on a pilot loan programme serving agricultural development, the State Bank of Vietnam has directed credit institutions to provide loans for many localities. To date, the programme has provided loans for six provinces with a total capital of about 2.72 trillion VND. Some large enterprises in the provinces of Dong Thap, Can Tho and An Giang have asked for loans with interest rates ranging from 7-10.5 percent per year to implement production and processing projects.
By the end of last year, interest rates had sharply dropped to a low level, equal to 50 percent of those rates in 2011. Since the beginning of this year, short-term lending interest rates for the agricultural sector have reduced to 7-8 percent per year.-VNA
