A footwear factory (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – TheSmall- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Development Fund of the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade has launched financial aid packages for 2017 to continueassisting the firms which make up 97 percent of Vietnam’s total businesses.
These programmes loan SMEs a maximum of 70percent of the acceptable investment capital of each project or business plan.
The support programme for SMEs’ innovation hastotal funding of 100 billion VND (4.38 million USD). It provides a maximum loanof 10 billion VND (438,500 USD) and allows a 24-month grace period for theoriginal loan.
Another programme with the same funding targets companiesinvolved in water supply, waste and wastewater management and treatmentactivities, with loans worth up to 25 billion VND (1.09 million USD).
Two packages worth 180 billion VND (7.89 millionUSD) each are designed to assist businesses in agriculture, forestry andfisheries and those in processing and manufacturing industries, respectively.Maximum lending under the scheme for agriculture, forestry and fisheries businessesis 20 billion VND (877,000 USD) and that for processing and manufacturingindustries is 25 billion VND (1.09 million USD).
The programmes are carried out through December31, 2017, or until their funding is usedup or the SME Development Fund issues any other announcements.
The interest rate is kept unchanged during theloan term at under 90 percent of that of commercial loans.
SMEs employ more than 50 percent of theworkforce and contribute over 40 percent of the GDP in Vietnam. However, theyare facing an array of obstacles in accessing credit, production sites andmarket.-VNA
VNA
