Bank loans proposed for ex-convicts to start businesses

A draft on ex-convicts' credit, which would be surveyed within two months starting from March 2, said that ex-convicts should be allowed to borrow money if they had been pardoned or completed their prison sentences.

Ex-convicts who want to borrow money must be a long-time resident and abide by the law. The loan period can be up to five years.

The public security ministry said the maximum amount of loans allowed for job training is up to VND4 million a month, while the maximum amount of loan to start businesses and create jobs would be up to VND100 million.

For a manufacturing business, the maximum amount of loan allowed is up to VND2 billion, with each single ex-convict being allowed to borrow no more than VND100 million.

Since 2010, there have been around 650,000 ex-convicts who completed their prison sentences. As they have been in isolation for so long, they might have trouble re-integrating with the community, the ministry said.

Several surveys have revealed that over 80% of ex-convicts, whose crimes were still on record, manage to secure jobs after getting out of prison, but most of them are manual jobs with salaries of less than VND7 million a month. It is one of the reasons why some ex-convicts return to committing crimes, according to the ministry.