The efficiency of the interest-free loan package to pay salaries for employees should be improved.

The enterprises are very eager to be facilitate the interest-free loans in order to pay employees' salaries and restore their businesses

Few businesses are allowed to borrow

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected most of enterprises, the medical isolation and social distancing also caused the number of enterprises to increasingly suspend their operations, and many employees had to stop working. Therefore, the Government issued the Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP dated July 01, 2021 and Decision No. 23/QĐ-CP dated July 7, 2021 on stipulating that businesses will be able to borrow the capital at the interest rates of 0 % at the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) to pay the stoppage salary for employees and borrow the capital to pay the salaries when restoring the production and business.

Implementing the above decision, on July 21, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular No. 10/2021/TT-NHNN on refinancing loans granted to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to disburse capital for the enterprises to borrow. Specifically, the maximum total refinancing amount is VND7,500 billion; the refinancing interest rate and the overdue interest rate are 0% per year; the refinancing period is 364 days, commencing on the date following the day on which the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) disburses the refinancing loan amount to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) and is applied to each disbursement. The refinancing period of disbursement is commenced on the signing date of the first indebtedness contract and ended on March 31, 2022 or until the refinancing loan amount of VND7.500 billion is fully disbursed, whichever comes first. 

In Dong Nai Province, by mid-August, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) - Dong Nai Branch has actively deployed the above contents to nearly 5,000 enterprises in the area, but not many enterprises have responded. In which, 03 enterprises were disbursed with the amount of VND515 million to pay the stoppage salary for 118 employees with 0% interest rate.

Specifically, the Dong Nai Urban Transport Construction Investment Joint Stock Company borrowed VND132.6 million to pay the stoppage salary for 15 employees. The Dong Viet Thanh Corporation borrowed VND362 million to pay the stoppage salary for 82 employees. The Hung Loc Phat Security Service Joint Stock Company borrowed VND19.6 million to pay the stoppage pay for 05 employees.

According to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) - Dong Nai Branch, in addition to the three cases mentioned above, two more enterprises are expected to be approved and disbursed the loans to pay salaries to the employees. In the coming time, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies system will continue to speed up the procedures in order to meet the demands for the policy credit loans according to the regulations.

Thus, it can be seen that the number of enterprises accessing and disbursing the loans is still very modest, while there are thousands of enterprises needing the loans to pay salaries for employees. In the prolonged situation of the epidemic, the demands for loan capital are even greater, which makes the policy implementation ineffectively.

The enterprises have still found it difficult to access the loans

According to the enterprises, compared with the loan package in 2020, this loan package for paying the salary is loosened on a certain level in terms of conditions, but its level of easing is still far from the reality that the enterprises have been facing.

Specifically, in order to access this credit source, the employers must have no bad debt at the credit institutions and foreign bank branches at the period of loan application. In addition, the employers who borrow a loan to pay the stoppage salary must participate in the compulsory social insurance until the month preceding the period that the employee must suppend or stop working for 15 consecutive days or more as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 99 of the Labor Code in the period from May 1, 2021 to the end of March 31, 2022.

For the cases of borrowing the policy credits to pay the salaries to restore their production, the borrower must suspend their operations according to the request of the competent state agencies to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic from May 1, 2021 to the end of March 31, 2022; in the sectors of transportation, aviation, tourism, accommodation services and sending Vietnamese laborers to work abroad under contracts from May 1, 2021 to the end of March 31, 2022. The enterprises believe that, even if they want to borrow the loans with the above criteria, it will be difficult to access. For many enterprises, currently, they have had to borrow from many places in order to maintain their production and pay salaries to the employees, so the regulation of no bank bad debt is also a barrier. There are the enterprises that are eligible for loans, but the loan source is expected to be only about VND30 - 50 million for 3 months, it doesn’t work effectively.

 Vi Quan