"Sweet" capital flow in the middle of Bach Long Vi sea (Part 2)

Bringing social policy credit capital to Bach Long Vi island district is a process full of hardships and challenges. However, with determination and continuous efforts, the “sweet” capital flow of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has contributed to improving the quality of life of fishermen, promoting local economic development, turning Bach Long Vi from a desolate, arid land into a miniature city in the middle of the ocean.

Trusted Strangers

Overcoming thousands of difficulties in the early days of coming to the island, Mr. Tran Chi Trang (residential area No. 1) and many other fishermen started fishing. Bach Long Vi is one of the 8 largest fishing grounds in the country, with rich marine biological resources, so they had to go to sea to fish for a long time. To go, they needed a lot of capital, so he had to borrow money with high interest rates from his brothers and friends. But "fate and the stars" ignored his family's efforts. After each trip, he could never recover his capital because the cost of fuel and nets was too high, and the boat was small, so the catch was small. Living forever with the profession but still poor, sometimes discouraged, he said he would just give up the profession.

Mr. Tran Chi Trang and his wife are busy preparing their fishing nets for the fishing day.

However, upon hearing that he was eligible for a loan from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, he decided to borrow the first 50 million VND to repair his boat, change his fishing nets, and change his traditional fishing methods. At first, he encountered many difficulties because the island had many reefs and big waves, but everything passed, his family began to have enough to eat, and had enough money to build a house on the mainland. A gradually better life was also the motivation for him and his wife to raise their 3 children to adulthood and fulfill their dream of attending a border guard literacy class.

Also one of the families that has made a dramatic change since receiving capital from the Social Policy Bank, Mr. Vu Van Quan shared that he and his wife came to the island with nothing but 8 million VND and 15 kilos of rice provided by the State. To have money to buy a fishing boat, he had to ask relatives on the mainland to mortgage their property because he had no collateral. Since receiving a loan of 100 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to buy an oil tanker, he was extremely happy because for the first time a stranger believed that he was doing business honestly and would keep his word. That spiritual "medicine" became a strong motivation to help him and his wife expand their business. Up to now, his family has a spacious house, a 140 m3 diesel tanker and a cargo ship to do fishing logistics services.

Mr. Vu Van Quan and staff of the People's Credit Fund on the ship with the contribution of policy credit

After 8 years, the policy credit capital source is present on Bach Long Vi island, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son, Director of the Hai Phong City Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, said that as of October 31, 2024, the total outstanding debt on the island is nearly 9.1 billion VND, supporting 94 workers to borrow capital (of which more than 7.4 billion VND is mobilized by the Central Bank for Social Policies, 1.6 billion VND is transferred from the City Budget to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies for lending). The main purpose of using capital of customers is trading services (selling seafood, grocery stores, gasoline, etc.), accommodation services, catering, seafood exploitation, and livestock farming. Currently, the demand for loans to build clean water and sanitation systems is also increasing, so the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies has proactively advised and reported to leaders at all levels to supplement capital sources to meet these needs.

Responsibility of the first and only source of capital

Although not setting up a transaction office on the island, Mr. Pham Minh Duc, a staff member of the Social Policy Bank in charge of Bach Long Vi district, said that once a month, he and other members of the transaction team of the Social Policy Bank of Hai Phong City will conduct transactions at the district transaction point. At the transaction session, the staff of the Social Policy Bank will collect debts, collect interest, and promptly disburse funds to the people, while also holding a meeting with the district Farmers' Association and the head of the savings and loan group to disseminate new policies and review the borrowing needs of the people on the island. Based on the actual situation, the staff will advise and propose the Social Policy Bank of Hai Phong City to synthesize a report to the head of the city representative board to allocate more capital to support the people in a timely manner.

In order for the VBSP to successfully complete its task of bringing capital to the outpost island, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son affirmed that Directive No. 40-CT/TW dated November 22, 2014 of the Central Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership over social policy credit is like a "compass" for all activities. Accordingly, the Hai Phong City government as well as the local government have paid special attention to the islanders, considering supporting them to develop the economy and settle down as a key task. This attention is most clearly demonstrated in the willingness to allocate resources and create the best conditions for VBSP staff to bring capital to support the people. The Hai Phong City Party Committee and government always consider the allocation of additional budget capital entrusted through the VBSP to lend to meet the needs of beneficiaries in the area as a regular annual task and proactively implemented right from the stage of building the annual budget estimates of each locality; ensure to closely meet the actual loan demand, in accordance with the wishes of the people on the island as well as balance the budget capacity of Hai Phong city.

In particular, according to the reporter's research, Bach Long Vi is a district without commune level, the task of ensuring security and national defense is placed above all, so the revenue for the state budget is insignificant. Therefore, Bach Long Vi does not have capital entrusted by the district to the VBSP, but the role of State management and the responsibility of the head of the district-level government for policy credit activities at the grassroots level are shown in many other aspects.

The Director of the Hai Phong City People's Credit Fund shared that the resources brought by Directive No. 40-CT/TW are not only the capital entrusted from the central to local capital but also other factors. The Party Committee and the government of the island district support the means of transportation for the staff of the Social Policy Fund because the cost of the whole train trip can be up to 300-400 million VND; arrange a two-way train schedule between the island and the mainland that is relatively suitable for the transaction time, promptly notify the train trips so that the Social Policy Fund can proactively complete its tasks; support and create favorable conditions in terms of facilities to carry out transactions as well as places to eat and stay so that the staff of the Social Policy Fund can feel secure in performing their duties on the island. Direct the associations, heads of residential areas to participate in the savings and loan groups together with the Social Policy Fund to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of loans in a systematic manner, support the Social Policy Fund to urge debts if there are risks...

"Without this support, the People's Credit Fund could not have become the only bank to successfully direct capital to special areas like Bach Long Vi," Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son affirmed.

However, the regular mobilization of capital from the very edge to the most stormy place like Bach Long Vi also faces many difficulties. Big storms before affecting the mainland will sweep through Bach Long Vi at the highest level, this is the biggest risk at present. The islanders' economic development mainly relies on fishing, fishing logistics services... natural disasters not only directly affect borrowers but also the bank. During the rough sea months of August and September, the waves are very big, the VBSP staff who go to make transactions, even though they are in good health and have been used to going to sea for many years, cannot avoid getting seasick, the travel time lasts up to 12-13 hours; normally each transaction trip lasts 2-3 days, but in bad weather, there are no returning ships, the VBSP staff have to stay on the island for a whole week, affecting the work they are undertaking and solving on the mainland.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son said that other preferential loan programs such as poverty alleviation loans are difficult to implement because the number of poor and near-poor households is almost non-existent; on the island, households all have children of school age but cannot borrow under the student program because children over primary school age will be sent to the mainland so that they can have better learning conditions.

Fishermen are excited to have policy credit capital on the island.

"Although there are still many difficulties and challenges, the biggest source of encouragement for the staff of the Social Policy Bank is to persistently bring capital from the mainland to the island district continuously and smoothly, promptly meeting the loan needs of customers; the credit quality on the island district is always at a good level. The people of the island district have access to preferential loans to develop the economy. The lives of the people of Bach Long Vi are increasingly improving, and households are assured to stick to the sea and the island", the Director of the Social Policy Bank of Hai Phong City affirmed.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/dong-von-ngot-giua-trung-khoi-bach-long-vi-bai-2-158482.html