The goal of the SME development fund is to support SMEs to improve their competitiveness by helping them gain access to preferential loans and reduce complicated administrative procedures.
"Legal procedures are one of the difficulties in getting access to the fund. Currently, 25% of SMEs meet with difficulties in legal procedures, and 30% of them meet with difficulties in fulfilling the requirements of collateral assets", To Hoai Nam - General Secretary of Vietnam Association of SMEs - said.
"Collateral is the most common problem faced by many enterprises. Therefore, we have created another approach in which enterprises can borrow money with reasonable collateral. The safety of the credit system will be created through a qualified managing ability and transparency in the finance policy of enterprises", Dang Huy Dong - Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, Chairman of the Fund Management Council - said.
The fund’s charter capital of nearly 90 million USD will be distributed to commercial banks in 2016. Enterprises can enjoy an interest rate at 5.5% for short-term and 7% for long-term loans. This is considered a motive to boost the development of SMEs and the private economic sector.
According to statistics, nearly 600,000 enterprises are in operation. 96% of them are SMEs. The introduction of the development fund is expected to help SMEs tackle their contemporary difficulties and be more confident in carrying out their development plans./.
