NDO - After 10 years of implementation, Directive No. 40-CT/TW of the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership over social policy credit has come into life, promoting its effectiveness and efficiency with many outstanding achievements. Policy credit capital has also made an important contribution, making Vietnam a model of poverty reduction and economic growth for many countries in the world.
At the seminar “Social policy credit from the perspective of National Assembly deputies” organized by the People's Representative Newspaper on the afternoon of November 9, delegates highly appreciated the effectiveness of social policy credit, while pointing out many challenges and proposing solutions to improve the quality and efficiency of this capital source.
Bright spot in poverty reduction
According to data from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, by the end of October 2024, the total source of social policy credit capital reached VND 375.8 trillion, an increase of VND 241.1 trillion (2.8 times higher) compared to when Directive 40 began to be implemented, with an average growth rate of 10.8% per year.
The highlight of this period is that 100% of provincial and district-level localities nationwide have paid attention to balancing and arranging the entrusted budget through the Social Policy Bank to supplement the loan capital. Accordingly, the entrusted amount to date has reached 48.9 trillion VND, accounting for 12.8% of the total capital, an increase of 45.1 trillion VND compared to before Directive No. 40-CT/TW.
“This is a large resource, promptly and increasingly meeting the loan needs of the poor and other policy beneficiaries,” emphasized Deputy General Director of the Bank for Social Policies Huynh Van Thuan.
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| Deputy General Director of Vietnam Bank for Social Policies Huynh Van Thuan. |
With this resource, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies has closely coordinated with local authorities and socio-political organizations to quickly, promptly and effectively implement policy credit programs. To date, the total outstanding debt of policy credit programs has reached VND 358.9 trillion, an increase of VND 229.4 trillion (2.8 times higher) compared to the end of 2014 - the time when Directive 40 began to be implemented, with more than 6.8 million poor households and policy beneficiaries still having outstanding debt. The current ratio of overdue debt and frozen debt is 0.55% of total outstanding debt, of which overdue debt accounts for 0.2% of total outstanding debt.
According to National Assembly delegates attending the discussion, with the achievements, social policy credit has become a "bright spot", a "pillar" in the poverty reduction policy system, ensuring social security, meeting the aspirations of the people, especially the poor and vulnerable groups in society. Social policy credit has significantly contributed to reducing the country's poverty rate from 14.2% in 2011 to 2.93% by the end of 2023 (according to the multidimensional poverty standard).
For example, in Tra Vinh, this locality has arranged capital entrusted through the Social Policy Bank reaching over 633 billion VND. The provincial Social Policy Bank has promptly transferred preferential credit policies to the right subjects. Currently, outstanding policy credit in Tra Vinh has reached 4,677 billion VND, an increase of over 3,100 billion VND compared to 2014, with an average credit growth rate of over 18%/year. More than 129 thousand poor households and policy subjects are receiving loans, with a very low overdue debt rate, only 0.18%/total outstanding debt.
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| Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Tra Vinh province Thach Phuoc Binh. |
“These figures demonstrate the strong leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People's Committee and authorities at all levels towards social policy credit. Thanks to that, in the period 2014-2020, the poverty rate in Tra Vinh decreased from 10.66% to 1.8%; and from 2021 to the end of 2023, it decreased to 1.19%. In particular, the social credit policy has made an important contribution to building Tra Vinh into a New Rural province,” affirmed Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Tra Vinh Province, Thach Phuoc Binh.
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Mrs. Doan Thi Le An. |
National Assembly delegate, Chairwoman of the Cao Bang Provincial Women's Union Doan Thi Le An also shared that policy credit capital has helped 473,900 poor households, near-poor households and policy beneficiaries in the area to borrow capital to develop production; contributed to helping 102,400 households escape poverty; created jobs for 52,300 workers; supported 22,400 students to enter universities and colleges... Thereby contributing significantly to the implementation of the national goal of sustainable poverty reduction, ensuring social security, building new rural areas, and repelling "black credit" in Cao Bang province.
Currently, Cao Bang Provincial Social Policy Bank is providing 19 loan programs with a total outstanding loan balance by the end of October 2024 reaching VND 4,606 billion with 61,266 households still in debt.
Continue to improve quality
In addition to the outstanding achievements, at the seminar, delegates also recognized that there are still many challenges for social policy credit capital and the new context also poses new requirements to improve the quality and efficiency of this capital source.
One of the biggest difficulties shared by Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies Huynh Van Thuan is capital resources. “Resources for implementing social policy credit programs are still limited compared to the actual needs of the poor and other policy beneficiaries, especially loan programs for job creation, social housing, etc.,” said Mr. Thuan.
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| Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Social Committee Lam Van Doan. |
According to Lam Van Doan, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Social Committee, we currently lack legal regulations on capital allocation for the Social Policy Bank. For example, the current Law on Public Investment does not have regulations on the allocation of public investment capital implemented through the Social Policy Bank, but only allocates capital for management costs and interest rate differential compensation, so it is very limited.
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Mr. Phan Duc Hieu. |
Standing member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Phan Duc Hieu also expressed his wish to "have a directive requiring strict implementation of policies on capital allocation for the Social Policy Bank". In addition, to ensure a balanced capital structure, Mr. Hieu suggested using the Government bond channel.
National Assembly Delegate Doan Thi Le An also said that the current loan levels of some programs and policies are still low, not meeting people's needs, not suitable to the actual situation and market prices, such as loans for poor households to build houses, loans for sanitation and clean water projects, etc. Therefore, people want to increase the loan levels for these programs.
In addition, Ms. An proposed to supplement credit support policies for production and business for households with average living standards working in agriculture, forestry and fishery. The current lending target has been expanded, however, for ethnic minorities, mountainous areas, or islands, conditions are still difficult, so there should be policies for households with average living standards to borrow capital so that they have capital for production, business, increase income, and avoid falling back into poverty.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/nang-cao-hieu-qua-cua-tin-dung-chinh-sach-xa-hoi-post844086.html
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