SME Development Fund Launched

 

Fund Director Hoang Thi Hong said the SME Development Fund has to date built an adequate regulatory framework and an administrative apparatus for official operation, aimed to guide and support SMEs to a maximum. The fund has a charter capital of VND500 billion in the first year and VND1,500 billion in the next three years.

 

Deputy Minister Dang Huy Dong said, with a charter capital of VND2 trillion, the fund will support SMEs with feasible business plans and projects in need of investment capital; receive, manage and use capital funded by the government and domestic and international organisations and individuals; take part in building SME development support policies; and carry out international cooperation in SME support. The fund aims to help SMEs to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises through supporting them in developing competitive and environmentally friendly products, improving technical equipment and fine-tuning business management competence. Beneficiaries of the fund are SMEs established and operated on a national scale under the law of Vietnam.

In addition, from 2016, the fund will entrust commercial banks to lend eligible SMEs with a preferential interest rate of 5.5 per cent per annum for short-term loans and 7 per cent for medium- and long-term loans. At the same time, the fund will also work with relevant agencies and organisations to implement support activities and programmes of strengthening SME capacity.