The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the State Bank of Vietnam signed a coordination regulation to promote the role of credit for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers".

This information was announced by Governor Nguyen Thi Hong at the Signing Ceremony of the Regulation on coordination in implementing the work program between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the morning of April 5.

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that the development of agriculture, rural areas and improving the lives of farmers have always been of great concern to our Party and State. Following the Party's major policies on agriculture, farmers and rural areas, the Government and the Prime Minister have issued many policies and directives to create favorable conditions for investment in developing this field.

Therefore, in recent years, the banking industry has always identified "agriculture" as one of the priority areas for credit capital investment and has had many policies and solutions to create favorable conditions to increase access to bank credit capital for this area.

Bộ NNPTNT và Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam ký Quy chế phối hợp, phát huy vai trò của tín dụng đối với — State Bank Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that to date, there have been 90 credit institutions and nearly 1,100 people's credit funds participating in lending to the rural agricultural sector with a nationwide network, accounting for one-third of the total outstanding debt of the economy. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Accordingly, the State Bank of Vietnam has regularly reviewed and improved mechanisms and policies on banking activities, creating conditions for credit expansion and access to banking products and services for organizations and individuals in all sectors and professions. Particularly for the agricultural and rural sector, since 1999, the State Bank has submitted to the Prime Minister a separate credit policy to serve the development of this sector, which was later a Government Decree.

Also in the past time, the State Bank of Vietnam has actively used management tools to facilitate agricultural and rural development. For example, it has stipulated a lower ceiling interest rate policy for short-term loans in VND (currently 4%/year) for priority sectors (including agriculture and rural areas); at the same time, it has policies to encourage credit institutions to invest in agriculture and rural areas through refinancing or reducing the required reserve ratio, reducing the risk coefficient for loans in this sector.

The State Bank has also actively implemented many credit programs and policies to serve the development of a number of specific sectors and fields in agriculture. Most recently, the VND15,000 billion credit package for the forestry and fishery sectors has been implemented very effectively and is continuing to increase the limit for this group.

To date, there have been 90 credit institutions and nearly 1,100 people's credit funds participating in lending to the rural agricultural sector with a nationwide network, accounting for 1/3 of the total outstanding debt of the economy.

At the signing ceremony, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan also acknowledged and highly appreciated the support of the banking sector for agricultural and rural development in the recent period.

Minister Le Minh Hoan said that the demand for loans from farmers is very large. The Minister hopes that in the coming time, there will be closer coordination between the two sectors in effectively organizing and implementing policies, programs and solutions to support the sustainable development of the agricultural sector. From there, it is possible to support farmers - the most vulnerable group in society - to access bank capital conveniently and at preferential interest rates. In addition, it also requires farmers to use capital effectively and safely.

At the ceremony, Mr. Le Duc Thinh, Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation and Rural Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) announced the content of the coordination regulations for implementing the work program between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the State Bank of Vietnam. Accordingly, the coordination regulations focus on the following main groups of issues:

Firstly, coordinate to review and propose to improve mechanisms, policies, credit programs and banking activities for the agricultural and rural sectors; Coordinate to implement solutions to support enterprises, cooperatives and households to increase access to banking products and services in the agricultural and rural sectors; Coordinate to direct to promote the key role of the Bank for Social Policies and Agribank in lending for agricultural and rural development; effectively organize and implement policy credit programs to contribute to the implementation of national target programs such as new rural construction; sustainable poverty reduction; Socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Second, strengthen coordination and exchange of work in organizing and implementing assigned tasks in Resolutions, Programs, Projects, and Plans of the Party and State on agricultural and rural development.

Third, coordinate in communication and information work, contributing to improving access to banking products and services, especially in rural areas.

Fourth, strengthen coordination in information exchange, training, and connecting banks with organizations and individuals operating in the field of rural agriculture to enhance capacity and effectiveness in performing tasks.

Fifth, establish an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism from the central to local levels to deploy the contents of the Regulation on coordination in implementing the work program to affiliated units in the entire system of the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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