Nearly 6.7M Poor Households Get Preferential Loans in 2018

Close to 6.7 million poor households and policy beneficiaries gained access to preferential loans worth over VND62 trillion ($2.66 billion) in 2018. The information was revealed by Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VPSP) Tran Lan Phuong at a conference to review the bank’s operation in 2018. Last year, the bank excellently fulfilled its credit growth target set by the Prime Minister, significantly contributing to realizing the national target programs on sustainable poverty reduction and new-style rural area building. The system’s credit growth hit more than VND16 trillion while debt collection reached over VND45.8 trillion, Phuong said. Preferential credit came to all communes, wards and townships nationwide, focusing on those inhabited by ethnic minority people as well as disadvantaged, remote and border areas, he added. The loans helped create jobs for more than 243,000 laborers, including nearly 6,000 sent to work abroad. Close to 51,000 poor students received loans to serve their study while over 1.3 million clean water and sanitation works were built in rural areas. About 30,000 houses were constructed for poor households, plus more than 2.800 social homes for low-income earners. According to Phuong, despite high credit growth, overdue debts accounted for a small proportion, only 0.39% of total loan outstanding balance by December 31. This showed that the credit quality was ensured, lending procedures were conducted seriously, and loans were used effectively by right persons, she stressed. (VOV Jan 18)