In 2013, Ho Chi Minh City will not have any companies able to access interest rate-free loans for the market stabilisation programme. The city will facilitate enterprises to contact banks for loans bearing preferential rates of 6 per cent per annum for the short term, and 10 per cent for medium and long terms, to invest in production facilities, livestock, technology, and supply of goods to the market.
This opinion was informed by Nguyen Thi Hong, Vice Chairwoman of the HCM City People's Committee at the meeting reviewing the market stabilisation programme for the Lunar New Year or Tet in 2012 and 2013, and on tasks for 2014.
HCM City will continue implementing four market stabilisation programmes in 2013 and 2014, starting from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. The number of participating companies rises to 64 in 2013 from 48 in 2012. Only milk companies are unchanged in number, while other commodities have more participants. Selling prices of goods under the market stabilisation programme is 5 per cent - 10 per cent lower than the market rate.
Accordingly, essential food programme covers nine groups of items, including rice, sugar, cooking oil, meat, poultry meat, eggs, processed foods, fruits and vegetables, processed and fresh seafood, supplied by 36 businesses. As many as 13 companies join the pharmaceutical programme and 13 firms the education item programme, both of which will be carried out throughout the year, with the peak season from May 1 to October 31, 2013.
In addition to large supermarkets like Saigon Co-op, Satra and VinatexMart, price-stabilised commodities will be also available in 5 foreign-owned hypermarkets in the city. Participants are committed to selling with the right volume and at the right price, and carrying commodities to populous areas to sell like residential zones, industrial parks and export processing zones in the suburbs.
The funding for the market stabilisation programme will not be sourced from the State Budget, but from preferential credits from banks with an interest rate of 6 per cent per annum.
Five commercial banks have pledged to lend VND1,960 billion to 59 participating companies in all three short, medium and long terms. The banks include the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), the Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank), the Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank).
They will lend VND860 billion with a maturity term of 12 months to manufacture, trade and stockpile commodities. The interest rate for this loan is 6 per cent per annum.
The remaining amount of VND1,100 billion will be disbursed for production and husbandry projects, bearing the interest rate of 10 per cent per annum. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and relevant departments will facilitate contact between enterprises and banks to reach loan agreements.
This market stabilisation programme in Ho Chi Minh City is different from the previous ones because the financing source is no longer interest-free loans from the State Budget.
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