Credit Helps Ensure Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Vietnam

The Prime Minister has issued a decision providing credit packages at the Bank for Social Policies for households who have recently escaped from poverty to help them develop production and businesses to stabilize their lives and promote sustainable poverty reduction. The beneficiaries should be those who have risen out of poverty within the last three years. The loan terms will be agreed upon by the bank and the borrowers based on their production, business and payment capacity. The interest rates are 125% of those for poor households and those for overdue debts are equal to 130% of lending interest rates. The extension of debts is similar to those for poor households stipulated in the Government decree on credit for poor people and preferential policy beneficiaries. According to the Bank for Social Policies, around 200,000 households who have risen out of poverty have yet to access the bank’s loans to serve their production and business needs. (Vietnamplus.vn July 22)