Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Van Binh, spoke on a talk show about a VND10 trillion package to support fishermen working in the East Sea.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Van Binh 

All your promises to stabilise currency exchange rates, lowering interest rates and reforming the banking system have been realised. However, you received many votes of low confidence on last year's ballot. What do you think about all criticism?

Well, those who gave votes of 'high confidence' were in the majority. And I think that all employees recognise what we have accomplished. We have done our best, but we also understand that we must increase our efforts in the future to gain more confidence. We also see that everyone understands our position and supports us in our initiatives. My only worry is that I will not be able to do enough.

Do the changes in the gold and exchange markets have been caused by tensions in the East Sea? Also, you announced that changes in the exchange rate of VND versus the USD would not exceed 2%, but the value of the USD against VND has been high lately. Do you still believe that the SBV will be able to make good on its promise?

The placement of the Chinese oil rig in Vietnamese waters has affected gold and currency exchange markets, as well as the people of this country. I believe, however people understand the situation and are reassured. Foreign currency deposits have not risen and, in fact, have decreased. Over the past six months we have not made any adjustments to the exchange rate. The macro-economy remains stable. To encourage exports, we promise that any exchange rate adjustment will be lower than 2%.

A fisherman wrote in to the programme, "I'm furious at the brutal actions of China, sinking a fishing boat in Danang. This is the reason why I support and have high expectations for the VND10 trillion credit package. However, in 2006, the government issued a similar package. In that case, we fishermen were still unable to access loans. Media outlets reported that 90% of the package resulted in bad debt. Will this package be different?"

We did implement a support programme for fishermen previously. On one hand, the programme might have partly failed because it took on too many bad debts. On the other hand, it provided a new fleet for our fishermen around Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands. We will take that into account this time in order to diminish the programmes weaknesses and restructure our offshore fishing industry.

Another fishermen asked, "I spent all my money to build a boat, but it hasn't been completed. Will I be able to get a loan as a result of this package? Can fishermen who already own a boat borrow to make renovations and reinforcements to their existing ships?"

The package is aimed at helping fishermen build large and sturdy boats for offshore fishing expeditions. A part of the package is to repair and reinforce ships.

In the programme to develop Vietnam's agriculture industry, the SBV agreed to disburse funds to four enterprises with interest rates between 7% and 10%. But what would be the terms of such loans? Do you think that the programme will succeed?

We cooperated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other agencies to conduct surveys and choose about 30 pilot projects. The pilot period is from one to two years. We'll review the results and make any needed adjustments to the programme to make it a success