THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE -------	THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ---------------
No. 02/2016/TT-BTC	Hanoi, January 6, 2016

 

CIRCULAR

GUIDANCE ON PROVIDING INTEREST RATE SUPPORT FOR ORGANIZATIONS OR INDIVIDUALS OBTAINING BORROWED FUNDS FROM CREDIT INSTITUTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSPORT VEHICLE AND INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT PROJECTS IN THE PUBLIC PASSENGER BUS SERVICE SECTOR UNDER THE PRIME MINISTER’S DECISION NO. 13/2015/QD-TTG DATED MAY 5, 2015 ON REGULATORY INCENTIVE POLICIES AND REGULATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PUBLIC PASSENGER BUS SERVICE SECTOR

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 60/2003/ND-CP dated June 6, 2003 specifying and guiding implementation of the Law on State Budget;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 215/2013/ND-CP dated December 23, 2013 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg dated May 5, 2015 on regulatory incentive policies and regulations for development of public transport bus services;

Upon the request of the Director of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions,

The Minister of Finance hereby introduces the Circular on guidance on providing interest rate support for organizations or individuals obtaining borrowed funds from credit institutions for implementation of transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects in the public passenger bus service sector as follows:

Article 1. Scope of application

This Circular provides guidance on interest rate support for organizations or individuals obtaining borrowed funds from credit institutions for implementation of transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects in the public passenger bus service sector in accordance with Clause 3 Article 4, Clause 3 Article 5 of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTG dated May 5, 2015 on regulatory incentive policies and regulations for development of the public passenger bus service sector

Article 2. Scope of application

1. Organizations or individuals receiving loans from credit institutions for implementation of transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects in the public passenger bus service sector, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements defined in the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg and this Circular (hereinafter referred to as project owner).

2. Other institutional and individual entities concerned.

Article 3. Support principles

1. The local government’s budget shall provide loan interest rate support for project owners qualifying for interest rate support, specified in Clause 1 Article 2 hereof, which is applicable to the amount of loans determined on the date of consideration of interest rate support, and to loan limits eligible for interest rate support, in accordance with regulations set out by the People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces (hereinafter referred to as provincial People’s Committee).

2. The project shall be entitled to interest rate support under the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg and the instructions of this Circular only if they take out credit institutions’ loans to finance their transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects in the public passenger bus service sector. A project owner shall not be entitled to such support if their loans received from credit institutions are used to finance projects other than those stated above.

3. A project owner shall only be entitled to support for the interest rate imposed on borrowed funds which are disbursed from July 1, 2015 (on the date of entry into force of the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg) in order to develop and implement projects defined in Clause 3 Article 4, Clause 3 Article 5 of the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg which are on the list of projects qualifying for support in accordance with a Decision granted by the provincial People’s Committee.

4. Where loans (including principal and interest) are subject to late repayments, or allowed for debt rescheduling, they are not eligible for interest rate support during the period of late repayment or debt rescheduling. Where a project owner has managed to repay its loans subject to late repayments and keep up with its subsequent payment due dates, it shall be eligible for interest rate support under the provisions of the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg and the instructions set out herein.

5. Where there are various support policies from different programs or projects applied to transport vehicle and infrastructure investments for the public passenger bus service sector, a project owner may choose the most preferential support policies.

6. The validity period of interest rate support shall be decided by the provincial People's Committee, but shall not exceed the actual loan term of specific loans.

Article 4. Requirements for eligibility for interest rate support

An owner of a transport vehicle and infrastructure investment project for the public passenger bus service sector shall be entitled to loan interest rate support on condition that the following requirements are fulfilled:

1. Ensure that their transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector have been approved by competent authorities in accordance with legislative regulations on investment.

2. Receive loans from credit institutions to implement projects referred to in Clause 1 of this Article and use these loans in a proper manner.

3. Ensure compliance with prevailing regulations applied to their public passenger bus service business.

Article 5. Support limits and validity periods

With reference to local socio-economic development objectives and budget balancing capability of each local government, the provincial People’s Committee shall introduce specific regulations on interest rate support applied to project owners that implement projects defined in Article 4 hereof within jurisdictions concerned with the aim of ensuring equality, public accessibility and transparency during application of that support, including on:

1. Loan limits qualifying for interest rate support.

2. Interest rate support level.

3. Interest rate support validity period.

Article 6. Support mechanism

Interest rate support shall be carried out in accordance with local regulations and through the State Treasury on the basis of submission of sufficient dossiers, implementation of regulatory procedures and grant of confirmation by competent authorities under the provisions of this Circular.

Article 7. Request dossier for interest rate support

1. The request dossier for interest rate support submitted by a project owner shall be comprised of the followings:

1.1. The request form for interest rate support for loans received from credit institutions to invest in transport vehicle and infrastructure for the public passenger bus service sector, submitted by the project owner and certified by local governments of jurisdictions where such investment project is located (according to the Appendix 1 and 2 to this Circular).

1.2. The statement of approval by competent authorities of transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector, as defined in laws and regulations.

1.3. Credit facility agreement.

1.4. Statement on loan principal, interest, documents or equivalents certified by credit institutions, stating that the project owner is receiving loans from these credit institutions which are unmatured and used for predetermined purposes to implement transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector.

1.5. Statement or calculation factsheet of the interest amount in question which is determined as follows:

a) The interest amount of a loan qualifying for interest rate support shall be calculated according to the following formula:

Monetary amount that requires interest rate support	=	n ∑ i=1	Interest rate support level	x	Summation of the products of outstanding loan debts eligible for interest rate support and the actual number of days left to maturity in a month
					30

Where

- Interest rate support level shall conform to regulations laid down in Article 5 hereof and shall be calculated in a unit of % month.

- n means the actual number of days left to maturity in a validity period of interest rate support.

- Outstanding loan debt qualifying for interest rate support means the portion of outstanding debt owed by a project owner to a credit institution eligible for interest rate support in accordance with the Decision granted by the provincial People’s Committee.

b) The interest amount of a loan qualifying for interest rate support of a project owner refers to total amount of interest rate support for all loans eligible for interest rate support of that project owner.

2. A project owner may submit the request dossier for interest rate support in person or by post. If submitted by post, required papers or documents included in a request dossier must be authentic or certified copies. The date of receipt of that dossier shall refer to a postmark. If submitted by post, required papers or documents included in a request dossier must be authentic or certified copies, or duplicate ones with attached originals for verification purposes.

Article 8. Regulatory support processes and procedures

1. A project owner eligible for support policies shall, after preparing a complete request dossier for interest rate support as referred to in Article 7 hereof, submit it to the Department of Transport in the exercise of authority over its projects.

2. Pursuant to the dossier submitted by that project owner, within a permitted period of 03 working days of receipt, the Department of Transport shall inspect and verify it to notify that project owner if such dossier is invalid or needs further improvement or fails to satisfy statutory requirements for interest rate support. Within a maximum of 15 working days of receipt of the sufficient dossier from that project owner, the Department of Transport shall conduct an evaluation or inspection of that dossier, monetary amount given as interest rate support and validity period of interest rate support for specific projects. The result of such evaluation or inspection and the attached request dossier must be documented and deposited with the Department of Transport.

3. After consulting that inspection or evaluation result, the provincial People’s Committee shall consider making a decision on the list of projects qualifying for interest rate support, monetary amounts given as interest rate support and validity period of interest rate support for specific projects within a permitted period of 10 working days of receipt of the request statement submitted by the Department of Transport.

The approval decision on interest rate support must be sent to entities such as the Department of Transport, the Department of Finance, the Department of Planning and Investment and the State Treasury, and must be available for public access.

4. Pursuant to the approval decision, the provincial People’s Committee and the Department of Finance shall send payment orders to the State Treasuries of provinces or districts.

5. Upon receipt of payment orders from the Department of Finance, the State Treasuries shall disburse support amounts to project owners obtaining the approval decision of interest rate support.

Article 9. Sanctions imposed on project owners misusing loans

When discovering that a project owner misuses their loans, credit institutions borrowing money shall take punitive actions in accordance with laws; simultaneously, they shall report the case in writing to the Department of Transport, the Department of Finance, the Department of Planning and Investment, the State Treasury, and the provincial People's Committees, to withhold interest rate support from that project owner. The provincial People’s Committee shall grant a decision to request that project owner to reimburse interest rate support amounts derived from the state budget (in cases where the local government’s budget has disbursed such interest rate support amounts), or a rejection decision (in cases where the local government’s budget has yet to finance such interest rate support amounts); concurrently, command local competent authorities to collect reimbursed monetary amounts for the local government’s budget.

Article 10. Budget for implementation of interest rate support policies

Every year, based on the local budget's capability, the provincial People's Committee shall autonomously balance their budget to ensure adequate funds for interest rate support for loans received from credit institutions for implementation of transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector within their jurisdiction.

Article 11. The financial statement of financing accounts for interest rate support shall comply with regulations of the Law on State Budget and other directives.

Article 12. Reporting regime

On a regular and annual basis (not later than 120 days from the end of a financial year), the provincial People’s Committee shall send a year-end evaluation report on the efficiency in implementation of interest rate support policies for loans financing transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector, by adopting the Appendix 3 and 4 hereto, to the Ministry of Transport, and to the Ministry of Finance for cooperation and monitoring purposes.

Article 13. Preparations for implementation

1. The provincial People’s Committee shall take the following responsibilities:

a) Adopt specific regulations on loan limits qualifying for interest rate support, interest rate support level and validity period of interest rate support for loans obtained from credit institutions to finance transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector;

b) Direct and make preparations for implementation of interest rate support policies under the provisions of the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg and the instructions of this Circular.

c) Prepare the synthesis report on implementation of interest rate support policies for submission to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Planning and Investment on a regular and annual basis.

2. The State Treasury of a province or district shall be responsible for remitting interest rate support money to project owners in a sound, sufficient and timely manner.

3. The Department of Transport shall be responsible for conducting evaluation and verification of the request dossier for interest rate support, determining the outstanding loan debt owed by project owners to serve the right purpose of investment in transport vehicle and infrastructure for the public passenger bus service sector; inspecting and overseeing use of interest rate support budget in an effective and proper manner.

4. Credit institutions shall assume the following responsibilities:

a) Verify the statement on loan principal, interest, documents or equivalents as the basis for stating that the project owner is receiving loans from these credit institutions which are unmatured and used for predetermined purposes to implement transport vehicle and infrastructure investment projects for the public passenger bus service sector.

b) Bear responsibility for overseeing and monitoring project owner’s use of loans; immediately notify the Department of Transport, the Department of Finance, the Department of Planning and Investment, the State Treasury and the provincial People’s Committees whenever detecting misuse of these loans.

5. Rights and responsibilities of project owners:

a) Qualify for state incentive policies as provided for by the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg and under the instructions set out herein.

b) Comply with legislative regulations on implementation of interest rate support policies under the provisions of this Circular.

c) Reimburse disbursed interest rate support amounts upon the request of the provincial People’s Committee when misusing their loans.

Article 14. Entry into force

1. This Circular shall enter into force from January 20, 2016.

Interest rate support policies referred to herein shall become effective from July 1, 2015 (the date of entry into force of the Decision No. 13/2015/QD-TTg).

2. In the course of implementation hereof, if there is any difficulty that may arise, the provincial People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces and the Ministry of Finance must be reported to seek their assessment and solution./.

 

PP. THE MINISTER THE DEPUTY MINISTER Tran Van Hieu