State Bank of Vietnam highlights expansion of agriculture forestry and fisheries credit programme to VND 185 trillion

In remarks at the Prime Minister’s 2025 dialogue with Vietnamese farmers, the State Bank of Vietnam outlined its agricultural and rural credit support framework and reported that the dedicated credit programme for agriculture, forestry and fisheries has been expanded to VND 185 trillion. The central bank reiterated that agriculture, farmers and rural areas remain priority sectors for credit allocation and referenced its work advising the government on Decree 55/2015 on agricultural and rural credit and subsequent updates, including Decree 116/2018. It noted existing unsecured lending policies for rural agricultural customers with loan sizes from VND 300 million to VND 5 billion, the ability to use assets formed from loan proceeds, and special mechanisms for dealing with losses from natural disasters and epidemics. By end-October 2025, outstanding credit to agriculture and rural areas exceeded VND 4 quadrillion, up 10.16% from end-2024, representing 22.42% of system-wide credit across more than 14.5 million borrowers, while lending for high-tech and clean agriculture reached VND 19.45 trillion. The agriculture, forestry and fisheries credit programme launched in 2023 offers VND loans priced at least 1–2 percentage points per year below each participating bank’s average rate for the same tenor and has grown from an initial VND 15 trillion envelope to VND 185 trillion, alongside a broadened scope and participant base. Separately, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies was cited as running 23 preferential credit programmes, with total outstanding policy lending of VND 398.065 trillion as of 30 September 2025, up VND 30.434 trillion (8.3%) versus 2024, covering nearly 6.731 million borrowers and reporting more than VND 29 trillion in high-tech agriculture lending.