Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has hailed credit for implementingsocial policies as a sound policy of the Party and State that contributes to socialdevelopment and creates a momentum for sustainable poverty reduction.  

The PM made the remarkon October 16 when chairing a teleconference with leaders of 63 localitiesnationwide to review 15 years of implementing credit policies for the poor throughthe Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP).

He expressed his pleasurewith the efficiency of 20 credit programmes that the VBSP is running, helping nearly7 million poor households and other needy groups access loans.

He held that currentorganisation of the bank is suitable to Vietnam’s conditions. The bank has11,000 transaction points across the country, along with 200,000 saving groupsin all rural villages and communes, including those in remote and mountainousareas.

Noting that Vietnamstill has 1.9 million poor households and 1.3 million others living close to thepoverty line, the Government leader asked policy credit officials to try tograsp the poor’s expectations and demands, thus better serving them.

He also urged the bankto promote the application of advanced technologies and diversify theirproducts and services in order to create optimal conditions for customers toaccess preferential loans.

The PM asked ministriesand localities to propose measures to strengthen resources for social policycredit.

“In the Government’sperspective, investing in the VBSP and the poor means investing indevelopment”, stated he.

He also called for theengagement of organisations, individuals, businesses and the whole community incontributing capital to the bank, thus joining hands to improve the poor’sliving conditions.

The VBSP reportedthat since its establishment in 2002, the bank has provided loans to over 31.8million poor households and policy beneficiaries.

The funds helpednearly 4.5 million households escape from poverty, about 3.4 million labourershave jobs and 3.5 million students cover their study.

Capital from thebank has been used to build 9.9 million rural water supply and sanitationworks, nearly 633,000 houses for the needy and over 11,000 storm shelters inthe central region.

As of September 30,the VBSP’s total outstanding balance was 169 trillion VND (7.43 billion USD),24 times higher than that in 2002, with growth of 19.2 percent each year.

Thanks to credits,poverty ratio dropped to 4.25 percent in 2015 from 22 percent in 2005.

The bank’s capitalby the end of September was 179 trillion VND (7.87 billion USD), 25 timeshigher than that in 2002, 15.6 percent of which was from the State budget.

Its overdue and charged-offdebts fell to only 0.81 percent as of September 30.

At the conference, thePM presented the VBSP with the Labour Medal, first class, in recognition of itsoutstanding performance. Twenty collectives and nine individuals with excellentcontributions to the disbursement of social policy credit were also honoured atthe event.-VNA