Policy Credit (Part 1)

Tra Vinh province was re-established in May 1992 with a very low starting point, a high proportion of Khmer ethnic people (nearly 32% of the population), and is one of the poorest provinces in the Mekong Delta, with 40% of poor households and nearly 20% of hungry households. After 32 years of implementing many synchronous solutions, with the high determination of local Party committees and authorities, and the efforts of the people, Tra Vinh province has basically completed the task of building new rural areas. This result has a significant contribution from policy credit programs - the "levers" that help many households in Tra Vinh escape poverty and stabilize their lives.

For more than 20 years, the policy credit flow has been "unblocked" to poor households and other policy beneficiaries. Tra Vinh province has nearly 226,000 poor households accessing this preferential loan source to improve their lives, contributing to helping over 142,000 households escape poverty and stabilize their lives. Policy credit is considered a lever, creating momentum for the poor to strive to assert themselves, overcome adversity, and enthusiastically work in production to improve their income and develop their family economy.

Giving "fishing rods" to poor households

The family of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, Da Loc commune, Chau Thanh district, escaped poverty at the end of 2022 thanks to support from policy credit capital. He shared that 15 years ago, although he and his wife were both of working age, they did not have land for production and their eldest daughter had an accident and was very weak. Therefore, the money they earned from working had to cover all expenses and living expenses, as well as take care of their child's medical treatment, so the family often fell into a situation of "lacking in the front, lacking in the back", poverty persisted. For many years, the couple and their two children lived in a dilapidated, leaky bamboo house without money to repair it.

Luck began to come when in 2010, his family received 8.4 million VND from the government and a loan of 8 million VND from the social policy bank to build a house that guaranteed "3 hard" according to Decision 167/2008/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. Having a house that protected from the sun and rain, the family was extremely happy, and had more motivation to work and produce.

In 2018, his family continued to receive a loan of 40 million VND from the Policy Bank under the poor household category to develop the family economy and improve income. With this money, his family bought 2 breeding cows, built a barn and planted grass to raise cows. After 14 months, the mother cow gave birth to 2 calves and the herd gradually increased. His family chose some beef cows to sell to cover living expenses and raise their children. In addition, Mr. Toan also learned how to repair pesticide sprayers for people in the hamlet, so by the end of 2022, when he had a stable source of income, his family was removed from the list of poor households by the local government.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan's family in Da Loc commune, Chau Thanh district escaped poverty thanks to access to policy credit capital.

In early 2023, Mr. Toan continued to be given the opportunity to borrow 80 million VND from the loan program for households that have just escaped poverty to buy more breeding cows and purchase equipment for machine repair. To date, his family's herd has grown to 8 cows. On average, each year, he sells 5 calves (about 10 million VND/cow), along with the money from selling cow manure and repairing sprayers, so his income has improved significantly. Currently, his family has escaped near-poverty and has some "food and savings".

With a main source of income from rice cultivation, vegetables and livestock, but due to the impact of climate change and frequent epidemics, the income of Mr. Kim Thang's family in Ngu Lac commune, Duyen Hai district is very unstable. Therefore, in 2011, when his first child was admitted to university, he was both happy and worried. Fortunately, his family was implemented by the Ngu Lac Commune Farmers' Association with a loan policy for students with difficult circumstances from the Social Policy Bank, so he boldly joined the hamlet's Savings and Loan Group. In 2015, when his second child was admitted to university, he continued to borrow capital from this program. In 2019, one of his children was able to borrow capital from the Duyen Hai District Social Policy Bank to work abroad. Up to now, the total amount of preferential loans that Mr. Kim Thang's family has received from these programs is 241 million VND; every month, he saves a part of the money to repay the bank on time.

Mr. Kim Thang shared: “Thanks to these loan programs, my children have been able to study properly. My family has capital to do business, develop the economy, and become rich. Currently, my eldest child is working for the government with a stable income; my second child is working in Japan, saving about 30 million VND per month. I hope that all sectors and levels will continue to create conditions for more and more people to access these credit loan policies.”

The whole political system is involved.

Mr. Le Hoang Phi, Director of the Social Policy Bank, Tra Vinh Province Branch, said that when it was first established in 2003, the Social Policy Bank, Tra Vinh Province Branch, received a loan balance of more than 55 billion VND from the poor household lending program of the Bank for the Poor. In 2004, it continued to receive 2 more policy credit programs, raising the total outstanding loan balance to over 122.6 billion VND. From these 3 credit programs, up to now, the Social Policy Bank, Tra Vinh Province Branch, has expanded to 17 policy credit programs, "unblocking" preferential capital flows to 100% of hamlets and villages in the province, creating conditions for the poor and policy beneficiaries to access policy credit capital conveniently and promptly.

Depending on specific needs and conditions, people are supported to access appropriate loan sources, such as loan programs for poor households, near-poor households, ethnic minority households with special difficulties, students with difficult circumstances, loans for job creation, clean water and environmental sanitation, etc.

In addition, over the past time, policy credit capital has helped create jobs for over 100,000 workers; nearly 35,000 students in difficult circumstances have received loans for their studies; supported the construction and renovation of over 111,300 clean water and environmental sanitation works in rural areas; supported the construction of new houses for over 36,000 poor households...

Thanks to that, people's lives have improved significantly. By the end of 2023, the poverty rate will decrease to about 1.19%, the average income per capita will reach 81.75 million VND/person/year, an increase of nearly 112 times compared to when the province was re-established.

According to Kim Ngoc Thai, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Tra Vinh Provincial Party Committee, policy credit capital contributes to the effective implementation of the Party and State's policies, goals and tasks on poverty reduction, job creation, and local socio-economic development; creating strong changes in remote areas, ethnic minority areas in Tra Vinh. The policy has aroused the people's will to be self-reliant, self-reliant, and aspiration to rise up; at the same time, helping the locality prevent and repel the negative impacts of "black credit"; contributing to political stability, social order and safety, ensuring national defense and security, strengthening and consolidating people's trust in the Party and State.

In particular, to promote the role and improve the effectiveness of social policy credit, implementing Directive No. 40-CT/TW dated November 22, 2014 issued by the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership over social policy credit, in recent years, Party committees and authorities at all levels in Tra Vinh have identified policy credit activities as an important and regular task, always integrated with national target programs and local socio-economic development plans, associated with congress resolutions.

The entire political system of Tra Vinh province has joined hands with the Social Policy Bank in lending and managing the use of credit capital. With the direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels, the participation of political and social organizations in managing entrusted capital has contributed to helping people effectively implement loan capital.

Every year, the entrusted organizations and unions, together with local authorities and functional sectors, regularly organize training courses to integrate policy credit programs with agricultural and industrial promotion programs, transfer science and technology, build production and business models to promote potential and strengths, associated with OCOP product brands, support farmers to transform economic structures and crops and livestock to achieve high efficiency./.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/tin-dung-chinh-sach-bai-1-158894.html