Decree 156/2025/ND-CP amend Decree 55/2015/ND-CP on credit policies for agricultural and rural development

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 09, 2015, on credit policies for agricultural and rural development, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under the Government's Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 07, 2018

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated February 18, 2025;

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions dated January 18, 2024;

At the proposal of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam;

The Government hereby promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 09, 2015, on credit policies for agricultural and rural development, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under the Government's Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 07, 2018.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 09, 2015, on credit policies for agricultural and rural development, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under the Government's Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 07, 2018

1. To add Clause 4 to Article 2 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP, amended and supplemented under Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP as follows:

“4. State management agencies, relevant organizations, and individuals involved in the implementation of this Decree.”

2. To amend Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“1. Rural area means the geographical boundary of a commune-level administrative unit or a special region (excluding special regions where the local administration performs tasks and exercises powers equivalent to those of a ward-level local administration).”

3. To add Clauses 14, 15 and 16 to Article 3 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“14. Outstanding loan balance subject to damage of an asset means the outstanding principal amount of all loans obtained by a client from a credit institution to form the damaged asset as at the time the damage occurs, determined proportionally according to the extent of damage (damage ratio) of such asset.

15. Outstanding loan balance subject to damage of a client means the aggregate of the outstanding loan balances subject to damage of the assets as prescribed in Clause 14 of this Article.

16. Written notification of widespread natural disasters or epidemics means an administrative document issued by the provincial-level People’s Committee for the purpose of implementing the debt freezing policy under the provisions of this Decree, and includes the following key information: type of natural disaster or epidemic; scope of widespread impact of the natural disaster or epidemic in the locality; starting and ending dates (or ongoing status) of the natural disaster or epidemic; directive contents requiring relevant organizations and individuals to prepare and finalize the debt freezing dossier in accordance with regulations.”

4. To add Clause 5 to Article 7 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“5. Other lawful capital sources of credit institutions.”

5. To add Clause 1a to Article 8 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“1a. In cases where a client concurrently satisfies the conditions for unsecured loan limits prescribed in Articles 9, 14, 15, and 15a of this Decree, the credit institution and the client shall agree upon the unsecured loan limit according to one of the loan levels prescribed in these Articles in conformity with the law.”

6. To amend Clause 2, Article 9 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP, amended under Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP as follows:

“2. Individuals, households, cooperative groups, business households, farm owners, cooperatives, and unions of cooperatives may be considered by credit institutions for unsecured loans, which must not exceed:

a) VND 300 million, for individuals and households;

b) VND 500 million, for cooperative groups and business households;

e) VND 3 billion, for farm owners;

d) VND 5 billion, for cooperatives and unions of cooperatives.”

7. To amend Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“3. Clients eligible to borrow loans without collateral as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, and credit institutions shall reach an agreement the submission by the clients to the credit institutions of the land use rights certificate and the ownership certificate of land-attached assets of the clients during the period of the unsecured loan at the credit institution.”

8. To amend the title of Article 12 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP, amended under Clause 6, Article 1 of Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP as follows:

“Article 12. Loan category maintenance, debt freezing, and new loan provision”

9. To amend Clause 1, Article 12 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“1. Credit institutions may maintain the loan category for debts with outstanding principal and interest that have had their repayment term rescheduled in accordance with regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam on the rescheduling of debt repayment terms by credit institutions for clients facing difficulties due to objective causes or force majeure circumstances as prescribed in this Decree; concurrently, based on the feasibility of the production or business project or plan and the client’s debt repayment capacity, credit institutions shall consider granting new loans to help clients overcome difficulties, stabilize production, and repay both existing and new debts to the credit institution.”

10. To amend item (iv), Point a, Clause 3, Article 12 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP, amended and supplemented under Clause 6, Article 1 of Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP, as follows:

“(iv) A record identifying that the client has suffered damage to loan capital or assets formed from the loan capital, clearly indicating the time of occurrence and the extent of the damage caused by the consequences of a widespread natural disaster or epidemic, or by objective causes or force majeure circumstances, certified by the credit institution, the client, and a competent agency (certification by the provincial-level People’s Committee in the case of enterprises and unions of cooperatives; certification by the commune-level People’s Committee in the case of business households, cooperatives, farm owners, individuals, households, and cooperative groups);”

11. To amend Clauses 2 and 3, Article 13 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“2. For a debt whose category is maintained as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 12 of this Decree and which remains within the rescheduled term, the credit institution shall not adjust or reclassify it into a higher-risk loan category in accordance with the regulations on asset classification in the operations of credit institutions and foreign bank branches. In case such debt becomes overdue according to the rescheduled term and is not further rescheduled or no longer has any outstanding amount subject to rescheduling as prescribed by the State Bank of Vietnam under Clause 1, Article 12 of this Decree, the credit institution shall classify the debt in accordance with the regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam on asset classification in the operations of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.

3. Based on the Government’s regulations on provisioning rates, provisioning methods, and the use of provisions for risk handling in the operations of credit institutions and foreign bank branches, and Clause 1 of this Article, credit institutions shall make provisions for the entire outstanding debt balance of the client based on the loan classification result in accordance with the regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam on asset classification in the operations of credit institutions and foreign bank branches, without applying the loan category maintenance prescribed in Clause 1, Article 12 of this Decree.”

12. To add Clause 15a to Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“Article 15a. Credit policies to promote organic and circular agriculture

1. Clients having production and business projects or plans for organic agricultural products in accordance with the law on organic agriculture, or production and business projects or plans for agricultural products meeting the criteria for circular economy under the law on circular economy, may be considered by credit institutions for unsecured loans of up to 70% of the value of such projects or plans.

2. If a client referred to in Clause 1 of this Article encounters risks due to an objective or force majeure circumstance, its debt shall be handled in the same manner as for a principal organization in value chain linkage prescribed in Clause 3, Article 14 of this Decree.”

13. To add Clause 7 to Article 18 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“7. To provide guidance on the identification of production and business projects or plans for organic agricultural products, and production and business projects or plans for agricultural products meeting the criteria for circular economy as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 15a of this Decree.”

14. To amend the title of Article 21 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“Article 21. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Justice”

15. To amend Clause 2, Article 25 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP as follows:

“2. In case multiple state budget support policies are concurrently applicable to a client suffering damage due to objective causes or force majeure circumstances, the client may choose to benefit from one state budget support policy.”

Article 2. Replacing and repealing a number of phrases, clauses and articles of the Government’s Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 09, 2015, on credit policies for agricultural and rural development, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under the Government's Decree No. 116/2018/ND-CP dated September 07, 2018

1. To replace the following phrases:

a) To replace the phrase “Articles 9, 14 and 15” in Clause 2, Article 5 with the phrase “Article 9, Article 14, Article 15, and Article 15a”.

b) To replace the phrase “debt freezing without interest on damaged outstanding debts” in Clause 2, Article 12 with the phrase “debt freezing without interest on the outstanding debts of the client from the time the damage occurs”.

c) To replace the phrase “State Bank branches of provinces and centrally-run cities” in Clause 3, Article 12 and Form No. 01 with the phrase “regional State Bank branches”.

d) To replace the phrase “Clause 3, Article 14 and Clause 3, Article 15” in Clauses 2 and 4, Article 12 with the phrase “Clause 3, Article 14; Clause 3, Article 15; and Clause 2, Article 15a”.

dd) To replace the phrase “Clause 2, Article 9; Article 14; and Article 15” in Clause 1, Article 13 with the phrase “Clause 2, Article 9; Article 14; Article 15; and Article 15a”.

e) To replace the phrase “rescheduling of debt repayment term and loan category maintenance” at Point a, Clause 3, Article 14 with the phrase “loan category maintenance in accordance with Clause 1, Article 12 of this Decree”.

g) To replace the phrase “Articles 12, 14 and 15” in Clause 4, Article 17; Clause 3, Article 19; and Clause 3, Article 22 with the phrase “Article 12, Article 14, Article 15, and Article 15a”.

h) To replace the phrase “Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development” in Article 18 and Clause 1, Article 21 with the phrase “Ministry of Agriculture and Environment”.

i) To repeal the phrase “, the Ministry of Planning and Investment” in Clause 2, Article 12 and Claus 4, Article 19.

k) To replace the phrase “districts, rural districts, and towns” in Form No. 01 with the phrase “communes and special regions”.

2. To repeal Clause 3, Article 8; Article 20; Clause 3, Article 21 and Clause 2, Article 22 of Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP.

Article 3. Transitional provisions

The credit institution and its clients may continue performing contracts and agreements that were signed in accordance with regulations effective at the time of signing, or shall amend and supplement contracts and agreements in conformity with this Decree.