Preferential credit in sunny and windy areas (Part 2)

Ninh Thuan - the land of sunshine and wind with simple people who are trying to overcome difficulties and persevere to rise up every day. On that journey, Directive No. 40-CT/TW dated November 22, 2014 of the Secretariat on "Strengthening the Party's leadership over social policy credit" was born like a lighthouse, guiding the policy credit ship to steadily overcome the storms, spreading new vitality to every village here.

Top-down consensus

Right at the time when the implementation of policy credit work in Ninh Thuan as well as many other localities in the country was facing difficulties, Directive No. 40-CT/TW of the Secretariat was born. Under the light of Directive No. 40-CT/TW, policy capital flows like underground streams, nurturing hope and creating the future, turning the accumulated difficulties into opportunities for the people here to gradually "green" their lives, sowing seeds of prosperity on a sunny and windy land like Ninh Thuan...

At the provincial level, Directive No. 40-CT/TW was concretized by the Standing Committee of the Ninh Thuan Provincial Party Committee into Directive No. 67-CT/TU dated April 23, 2015, aiming to widely and synchronously deploy solutions to support policy beneficiaries. Along with that, to effectively implement sustainable poverty reduction, the Standing Committee of the Ninh Thuan Provincial Party Committee also issued Directive No. 20-CT/TU on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in sustainable poverty reduction at the local level...

Immediately after that, in the whole province, Party committees and authorities at all levels got to work, considering leadership and direction of social policy credit activities as one of the important tasks in the regular program and plan of activities; At the same time, enhancing the role and responsibility of Party committees and authorities, especially the heads, in leading, directing and organizing the effective implementation of social policy credit capital in conjunction with the implementation of national target programs and local socio-economic development plans.

A mobile transaction session of the Social Policy Bank, Ninh Thuan branch

In Thuan Nam, a locality located at the southern gateway of Ninh Thuan, despite many difficulties of a newly established district, the Party Committee and the government of Thuan Nam district have identified "Social policy credit is an important pillar in the national target program for sustainable poverty reduction, contributing significantly to the effective implementation of policies set forth by the Party and the State...". Mr. Chau Thanh Hai, Secretary of Thuan Nam District Party Committee said: "Despite many difficulties, we always identify social policy credit as a pillar in the sustainable poverty reduction program. Policy capital not only helps people escape poverty but also acts as a driving force for production and economic development".

At the commune and town levels, attention and rectification of policy credit work has also been thoroughly implemented. Phuoc Dan town is located in the center of Ninh Phuoc district, 8 km southwest of Phan Rang - Thap Cham city. In the town, there are 3 traditional craft villages: Bau Truc pottery, My Nghiep and Chung My Cham brocade weaving, these are famous tourist attractions. According to the representative of Phuoc Dan town Party Committee, before Directive No. 40-CT/TW, the quality of credit in the locality was very low and uneven. Party committees, authorities, and socio-political organizations that have received the trust have not really taken drastic action and have not paid due attention to social policy credit activities... As of December 31, 2014, the total outstanding policy credit balance in the town was about 56 billion VND, overdue debt and frozen debt amounted to nearly 1 billion VND, accounting for 1.8% of the total outstanding debt, with outstanding interest of more than 2.4 billion VND. The work of approving loans by neighborhoods, savings and loan groups, and entrusted associations has not been strict and unscientific...

However, right after Directive No. 40-CT/TW, every year the Party Committee of Phuoc Dan town has a specialized Resolution on leadership and direction of social policy credit work. Thereby, the Party cell committee, government, front, and socio-political organizations of the town regularly pay attention to leadership and direction of social policy credit activities in accordance with the functions, tasks and actual situation of each unit. Thanks to that, people have access to more policy credit capital and use capital more effectively. Up to now, the total outstanding loans of the Policy Bank in Phuoc Dan town have reached 150 billion VND, an increase of 93.4 billion VND, an increase of 165% compared to 2014, with 15 neighborhoods, 64 savings and loan groups and 3,063 households borrowing capital. Currently, Phuoc Dan is one of the communes and towns with the largest outstanding loans in the whole province.

Ms. Lo Thi Loi, Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district borrowed 100 million VND from the Job Creation, Maintenance and Expansion Support Program to produce brocade weaving products.

Increase resources, improve credit quality

With the entire political system involved, consensus from the province down to the grassroots level to implement Directive No. 40-CT/TW has been achieved. However, in Ninh Thuan as well as many other localities, along with the attention to the activities of the Social Policy Bank, the additional resources to promote lending is very important, especially important for a locality with many difficulties like Ninh Thuan.

Understanding that, implementing the policy of "diversifying resources to implement social policy credit", along with the capital of the Central Government; The Provincial People's Committee has directed the Social Policy Bank to focus on mobilizing capital from organizations and individuals in the market and from members of savings and loan groups. In particular, the People's Committees at all levels have submitted to the People's Councils at the same level to pay attention to arranging local budget capital to supplement capital to implement policy credit programs in the area.

Every year, based on the actual situation and the ability to balance the local budget, the Provincial People's Committee and districts and cities have allocated a part of the budget from regular expenditure sources to entrust the Social Policy Bank to supplement capital for lending to poor households and other policy subjects. Up to now, the total entrusted capital has reached more than 160 billion VND, an increase of nearly 130 billion VND since before the implementation of Directive No. 40-CT/TW... These figures may be modest for other provinces and cities in the country, but for a small province with many difficulties like Ninh Thuan, this is the result of many efforts, joining hands from the local government to directly implementing policy credit in the area.

Returning to the story in Thuan Nam, also according to Mr. Chau Thanh Hai, Secretary of the District Party Committee, every year the District Party Committee directs the District People's Committee to pay attention to balancing and prioritizing the allocation of local budget entrusted through the District Social Policy Bank to supplement capital sources. Up to now, the local budget capital entrusted through the District Social Policy Bank has reached 5.4 billion VND. Although Thuan Nam has just been established and still faces many difficulties, it is the unit with the second largest entrusted capital source among district-level units in the whole province.

In Ninh Thuan as well as other localities across the country, providing resources for the Social Policy Bank to promote lending is very important.

Similarly, according to the representative of Phan Rang - Thap Cham City Party Committee, implementing the policy of "diversifying resources to implement social policy credit". Every year, the City Party Committee has also directed the City People's Committee to pay attention to allocating a part of the budget to entrust the Social Policy Bank to supplement capital for lending to poor households and other policy subjects. In 3 years (2021, 2022 and 2023), the city budget capital is entrusted to the Social Policy Bank with an amount of 4.5 billion VND. From the central capital source together with local capital sources, in the past 10 years, more than 44,700 poor households, near-poor households and other policy subjects in Phan Rang - Thap Cham have received loans. Social policy credit has contributed to helping more than 5,770 households overcome the poverty line, more than 15,200 students in difficult circumstances receive loans to study, creating jobs for more than 7,120 workers. The poverty rate in the area decreased by 3.09% (from 4.06% in 2014 to 0.97% in 2023).

… It can be said that up to now, Directive No. 40-CT/TW has become a “compass” for policy credit in Ninh Thuan, contributing to creating positive changes in socio-economic development, especially for policy subjects and remote areas. Policy credit is not simply a source of capital but also a bond of trust between the government and the people in Ninh Thuan. More specifically, Directive No. 40-CT/TW is not simply a policy document but also a torch that lights the way, guiding the journey of policy credit development in Ninh Thuan as well as the whole country. Behind each word is a strong commitment of the Party: No one, whether in the highlands or remote coastal areas, will be left behind.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/tin-dung-uu-dai-tren-mien-nang-gio-bai-2-158605.html