Throughout this year, individuals and organisations will be able to continue taking advantage of subsidised loans to buy machinery, equipment, . . .
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Workers of the Viet Nam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation produce agricultural equipment. Subsidised loans will continue to be offered to facilitate agriculture-related production. |
The State will continue to give interest rate subsidies to Viet Nam-made products, including farming machines, under-five-tonne trucks, computers, fertilisers, pesticides, and building materials such as cement, steel and bricks.
The interest-rate subsidy on loans to buy agricultural raw materials and building materials has been cut from 4 per cent to 2 per cent per year.
Other commodities will be interest free.
Hoang Tho Xuan, director of the Domestic Market Policies Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that last year, 90 per cent of farmers’ loans had been used to buy agricultural machinery.
The remaining 10 per cent was used to buy agricultural raw materials and building materials, Xuan said.
“If we want to develop agricultural production and processing, we need to have modern machinery,” Xuan said.
Under Decision No 497 issued last year, to attract interest-free loans, machinery and parts had to have been made in Viet Nam. However, under the new ruling (Decision 2213), agricultural machinery can either have been produced in Viet Nam or assembled in the country. Machinery must also have trademarks on which companies’ names and addresses and quality standards are printed, Xuan added.
He also said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would ask manufacturers of agricultural machinery to provide the names and addresses of their official outlets.
This year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to set up a team of inspectors responsible for looking into market performance and the origin of products to minimise fraud, he said.
Efficiency
Nguyen Duy Luong, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Farmers’ Association, said the agricultural stimulus package had helped numerous farmers improve their living standards.
However, he said many small holders were still not taking full advantage of the subsidised-loan scheme. He blamed complicated procedures for acquiring the loans. Meanwhile, banking officials were often reluctant to go to remote localities to assess assets before making lending decisions, he said.
“The easiest way would be for banks to pay retailers directly so that farmers didn’t have to negotiate complicated lending procedures,” Luong said.
Nguyen Thanh Giang, general director of the Viet Nam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM), said his company had increased production to meet extra demand and now had items of agricultural machinery left unsold.
“Last year, when we knew about the decision, we decided to increase production, but when banks tightened their pockets, we were left with 7,000-8,000 machines unsold,” Giang said.
The subsidised loan scheme worked most successfully in Hai Duong, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces.
In Thanh Hoa, 800 farming households successfully acquired loans worth VND30 billion ($1.6 million), while in Hai Duong, loans worth a total of VND24 billion ($1.3 million) were given to 200 households.
Since last September, more than VND34 trillion has been disbursed.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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