The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is coordinating with relevant ministries, branches and localities to research and draft a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 67/2014/ND-CP and Decree No. 17/2018/ND-CP to address and overcome shortcomings and limitations, including support for fishermen.
Quickly resolve difficulties for "ship 67"
The above information was provided by National Assembly deputies of Binh Thuan province to fishermen during the meeting with voters before the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly in localities such as Mui Ne, Phu Quy, Tuy Phong... In 2016, many "67 ships" with wooden and steel hulls worth billions of dong were launched, going out to sea, carrying the hopes of fishermen to both exploit aquatic products and protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands and soon pay off bank debts. However, the weather and fishing grounds are increasingly depleted, in addition to the escalating fuel prices and plummeting seafood prices, causing many "67 ship" owners to operate ineffectively, forcing them to stay ashore and leading to bad debts with banks that have lasted until now.
The entire Binh Thuan province has built 114 "67 ships" and upgraded and converted 6, of which Phu Quy island district has the largest number, with more than 100 ships. Of the fishing vessels that borrowed capital under Decree 67, only 13 cases have paid their debts in accordance with the credit contract, 16 ships are currently on shore and have stopped operating, and up to 67 ships are operating inefficiently, having to restructure their debts many times. Agribank Binh Thuan Branch is the only commercial bank that provides loans for building and upgrading fishing vessels under Decree 67 in the province. According to Agribank Binh Thuan's report, the cumulative amount of loans for building and upgrading fishing vessels under Decree 67 since the beginning of the program is more than 1,000 billion VND. The accumulated principal debt collection amount from the beginning of the program to December 31, 2023 is 182.4 billion VND (including debt collection from insurance compensation for damages caused by fire and shipwreck accidents of 48.1 billion VND; debt collection from customers paying debts of 134.3 billion VND, of which 3 ships have paid off all loans with an amount of 10.5 billion VND).
Faced with the above situation, Binh Thuan fishermen have repeatedly petitioned the Government to promptly amend and supplement Decree No. 67 on a number of fisheries development policies. In particular, there are regulations on restructuring debt repayment terms and maintaining the debt group so that fishermen can continue to enjoy interest rate support for loans for building new or upgrading ships facing risks due to objective and force majeure reasons, in order to create conditions for ship owners to continue production activities and repay loans. In addition, attention should be paid to supporting cases of fishermen who are in difficulty and have no more houses after their houses and land are seized and confiscated to repay bank loans because they are unable to repay the debt after borrowing capital to build "ship 67". The province is requested to pay attention to giving opinions to banks and finding solutions to freeze and extend debt to reduce hardship for the people.
There will be a new decree to replace it.
Regarding this issue, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation has made many recommendations in previous sessions. Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a document reporting to the Prime Minister on the results of implementing Decree No. 67 and reviewing and directing relevant ministries and branches, including directing the State Bank to study the mechanism to handle loan debts. The State Bank has also issued a document directing 4 commercial banks, State Bank branches in 28 coastal provinces and cities to review and evaluate the current situation and performance of each customer borrowing capital under Decree 67; monitor overdue debts and bad debts; actively coordinate with relevant departments, branches and sectors to clearly identify the reasons why ship owners have not paid their loans on time, classify them to have specific and effective handling directions for each case. In addition, implement measures to support customers in cases where fishermen are having difficulties in paying their loans when due, such as: restructuring the repayment period; Prioritize principal debt collection first, interest debt later; create favorable conditions to support fishermen who need to change ship owners due to lack of capacity to continue. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also coordinated with localities to guide fishermen in organizing production activities at sea to improve exploitation efficiency, especially new fishing vessels built according to Decree 67.
Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has worked with ministries, branches and localities to draft a Decree amending and replacing Decree 67 to submit to the Government for promulgation. In particular, it removes difficulties and obstacles such as: Restructuring the debt repayment period, maintaining the debt group enjoying loan interest support so that ship owners can continue production activities and repay loans; Having a mechanism to allow the transfer of fishing vessels to resolve bad debt loans; Continuing to implement the one-time post-investment support policy for the cost of periodic maintenance and repair of steel-hulled fishing vessels; Maintaining the policy of supporting insurance, training and improving professional capacity. The draft Decree amending and replacing Decree 67 has been appraised by the Ministry of Justice. After studying, receiving and explaining appraisal opinions, on November 25, 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development submitted a report to the Government and continued to complete the draft to submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation.
This will be a policy that contributes to promoting the industrialization and modernization of the fisheries sector, in which the marine economy will be exploited effectively and sustainably in the direction of protecting, regenerating and developing aquatic resources, and conserving biodiversity as set out in the Vietnam Fisheries Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045.
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