As of March, more than 6.4 million poor and near-poor households had won access to loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP). The bank said its total credit balance stood at VND230.55 trillion ($10.01 billion) at the end of last month, up VND4.35 trillion as compared with the end of 2020. Up to VND169.52 trillion or 73.5% of the credit balance was used to serve production, business and job generation, and the remainder for improving the livelihood. The bank’s accumulative credit loans reached VND239.2 trillion, up 5.77% from last year. Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong, who is also Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the VBSP, said since the beginning of this year, the VBSP has taken prompt actions in disbursement to meet capital demand of poor and near-poor households, and other social policy beneficiaries. She ordered stepping up the reception of trusted capital from local bank for social policies, as well as the mobilization of deposits from organizations and individuals, while better retrieving due debts during the second quarter. (VietnamNet [1])