>> PM allows interest-free loans to Vinashin and its victims
Vietnamese Prime Minister has pushed forward providing troubled ship-building giant Vinashin with interest-free loans to pay its employees from January 10.
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| Vinashin has not yet paid its debts |
PM Nguyen Tan Dung approved the loans to the State-owned Vinashin and Vinalines (Vietnam National Shipping Lines) subsidiaries. They will receive the loans from the Vietnam Development Bank to pay backwages, allowances and health, social, and unemployment insurance for their workers.
Also, their employees who lost jobs or contracts over the debacle are allowed to get the loans for vocational training and finding new jobs.
In Dung’s earlier decision on December 24 of last year, the loans were expected to be available from February 15, 2011.
According to the directive, the maximum loan is equal to the amount of money they need to arrange the above expenditures and the maximum maturity is 12 months.
Currently, Vinashin owes salaries totaling VND102.6 billion (USD5.13 million) to employees and VND134 billion (USD6.7 million) of social insurance benefits to its staff. Vinashin came to the brink of bankruptcy in June after amassing VND86 trillion ($4.3 billion) in debt. The shipbuilder defaulted on a $600 million loan arranged by international creditors after it failed to make an initial $60 million repayment, and told them it will make only interest payments.
