Overview of the Workshop.
In recent years, although the collective economy and cooperatives have developed in both quantity and quality, they have not yet met the requirements, and there are shortcomings and limitations that need to be addressed and resolved. These include: a large proportion of individual households in rural areas have not yet participated in cooperatives or cooperative groups; a large number of cooperatives are small-scale, have little capital, limited management capacity, low member linkages, lack of prestige and brand in the market, and weak management capacity of cooperatives.
Notably, access to credit capital for cooperatives is still difficult because they mainly do not meet the minimum requirements and loan conditions, so capital for production and business is still limited.
Speaking at the workshop, Chairman of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance Cao Xuan Thu Van said that one of the current difficulties of cooperatives is the capital problem. According to statistics of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, only 10% of cooperatives have access to loans from the Cooperative Development Support Fund. In addition, according to a survey of over 300 cooperatives, up to 80% of cooperatives have to borrow from the non-policy market and the black credit system with high interest rates and short terms, mainly to repay debts and wait for credit capital.
According to Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van, cooperatives find it very difficult to access capital sources. Currently, these models can only borrow from support sources from the Farmers' Association and the Women's Association, but these sources are still not enough to help cooperatives expand and develop.
“There needs to be many support solutions from many sides for the collective economic sector and cooperatives, including support mechanisms, policies, and regulations to implement the Law on Cooperatives, which will take effect from July 1, 2024, and support resources from the state such as the Cooperative Development Fund, policies on technology, and domestic and foreign market development so that the collective economic sector and cooperatives can develop effectively and in their true nature,” said a representative of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance.
Permanent Deputy Governor of the State Bank Dao Minh Tu (right) and President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance Cao Xuan Thu Van (left) co-chaired the Workshop.
At the workshop, Permanent Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu affirmed that in order to support the development of cooperatives, the banking sector has implemented many preferential credit policies according to Decree 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 9, 2015, Decree 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 7, 2018 of the Government. In addition, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies is also implementing many preferential credit policies of the State, in which cooperatives and cooperative unions are entitled to preferential loans according to Decree No. 28/2022/ND-CP dated April 26, 2022, implementing the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas from 2021 to 2030.
According to data from the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors (State Bank of Vietnam), by the end of February 2024, credit for cooperatives and cooperative unions reached VND 6,024 billion, down 1.69% compared to the end of 2023 for about 1,200 cooperatives and cooperative unions, of which: Credit for cooperatives in the agricultural sector reached VND 2,000 billion; unsecured loans for cooperatives and cooperative unions in agriculture reached VND 153 billion. Associated loans in agriculture reached VND 10,012 billion, up 3.76% compared to December 31, 2023. Cooperatives do not have outstanding loans under the association model.
In the coming time, to promote credit growth for the collective and cooperative economic sectors, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu stated: The State Bank will direct credit institutions to increase credit growth safely and effectively, focusing on production sectors and priority sectors according to the Government's policies; create favorable conditions for enterprises, cooperatives and people to access bank credit capital; research and deploy credit products suitable to the characteristics of the collective and cooperative economic sectors, and strengthen connections to remove difficulties in borrowing capital.
In addition, the State Bank will continue to improve credit policy mechanisms to facilitate lending in general and to cooperatives in particular, such as: Surveying, evaluating, and summarizing Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP on credit policy for rural agricultural development to propose amendments and supplements to regulations to facilitate increased access to credit for people, businesses, and cooperatives; continue to study and amend Circular No. 02/2023/TT-NHNN on restructuring debt repayment terms and maintaining debt groups for customers;...
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