Gov’t allocates loans to keep Tet prices stable

by Thu Tra

Viet Nam News talked to Vo Van Quyen, deputy director of the Domestic Market Policy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, about stabilising the market and reserves of goods for the upcoming Tet festival (Lunar New Year).

Prices for essential goods such as rice, sugar and powdered milk are currently increasing. Do you think price hikes could impact the prices of other products at the year-end?

In recent years, the end of the year has always witnessed price hikes. It’s easy to understand the reason: increasing demand for goods because of the Tet holiday and other festivals. Price fluctuations will occur if supply fails to meet demand.

Other factors such as the price for raw materials and imported goods have also led to these price increases. But normally, the price of only some goods tend to rise at year’s end, not all products.

Let’s take rice for example. Rumours of scarce rice supplies resulted in a slight increase in the price of the grain recently in HCM City. This, however, disappeared after two days with reassurance from relevant sectors and the press.

What does the ministry plan to do to stabilise the market for the coming Tet holiday?

As usual, the ministry has instructed local departments of Industry and Trade, especially those in big cities, to make good preparations to ensure an adequate supply of Tet holiday goods. The preparation, which should have started four or five months ago, depends on the specific demand for goods in each locality.

For example, the capital city allocated VND250 billion (US$13.5 million) to help companies ensure Tet supplies, while HCM City has spent more than VND400 billion ($21.6 million). Other large provinces, urban areas and industrial zones have also set up reserve funds for the work.

The preparation of goods will be combined with the ‘National Trade Promotion’ and the ‘Vietnamese use Vietnamese products’ programmes in a move to further encourage people to use locally-made goods.

Some enterprises have received financing to build reserves of goods. How does the ministry supervise the utilisation of the loans?

The inter-ministerial instructions that were issued on supplying goods for the Tet holiday clearly regulate the amount of money enterprises can receive, payback terms, interest rates and type of goods that could be purchased.

Enterprises that receive loans have to draw up price plans and commit to selling the goods at the price they set in these plans. Government authorities will supervise these activities.

To date, we have yet to discover enterprises taking advantage of this Government incentive policy by increasing the price of goods. I don’t think this year will be an exception. — VNS