Ministry proposes 843 million US
Ministry proposes 843 million USD bailout package for businesses during COVID-19
The Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs has proposed the Government
issue a 20 trillion VND (843 million USD) bailout package to soften the economic
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shops close their door due to COVID-19 pandemic in a local street in Hanoi.
(Photo:
VNA)
Under the proposal, an employee will be allowed to borrow 100 million VND(4,200
USD) and a producer or a small business will be allowed to borrow 2 billion VND
(84,470 USD) with an interest rate of 3.96 percent annually, half of the current
borrowing interest rate for poor households. The loans must be repaid within 12
months.
The ministry also submitted three solutions to help businesses survive during
the pandemic.
To fund each of the solutions, the budget of each locality would be paid in
advance to lend to local businesses and the amount will be refunded from revenue
when liquidating businesses' assets, the ministry said.
The ministry added that if the refund was not enough, the locality could report
to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for further consideration.
The first solution is businesses that have at least 30 percent of their
employees or at least 100 employees temporarily suspended from work due to
difficulties triggered by the pandemic would be allowed to borrow money to pay
salaries, social, health and unemployment insurance for employees.
The State budget would cover the interest on the loans for a maximum of three
months per business. If approved, the support will be implemented between April
and December.
Secondly, businesses that are forced to let go at least 10 percent of their
employees or at least 50 employees due to the pandemic could borrow money to pay
job-loss allowance for employees.
Thirdly, employees whose businesses dissolved or went bankrupt would receive the
job-loss allowance. The ministry said about 55,000 -110,000 employees would lose
their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The money to pay for job-loss allowance is estimated at about 530 billion – 1.06
trillion VND (22.3 - 44.7 million USD).
The ministry also suggested the Government issue a policy to temporarily halt or
exempt unemployment insurance payment for both businesses and employees.
It recommended exempting tuition fees for students who are members of COVID-19
infected families. In addition, a reduction of 15-20 percent of tuition fees in
the school year of 2020 for all students to share the burden with parents
nationwide should be applied, the ministry said.
Another proposal was made to extend the tax finalisation of 2019 and exempt
taxes incurred in the first six months of 2020 for all private and public
educational institutions.
Source: VNA