Banks prioritize credit for agricultural product in Mekong Delta

By the end of November 2022, credit for agricultural and rural development in the Mekong Delta reached nearly VND540 trillion, an increase of nearly 15 percent compared to the end of 2021. Some key agricultural products in the region saw impressive credit growth. For instance, outstanding loans of the seafood industry reached VND112.45 trillion, up 16 percent; outstanding loans of the rice industry reached VND89.39 trillion, up nearly 13 percent; outstanding loans of the fruit and vegetable industry hit VND19.44 trillion, accounting for about 21 percent of national outstanding loans of fruit and vegetable industry. The above results show that the credit capital flow of the banking industry has concentrated on the fields and industries that are the main strengths and key products of the Mekong Delta region.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Le Van Su, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau Province, said that in the coming time, the banking industry needs to have a credit solution suitable for the characteristics of the seafood industry to meet the needs of customers in the peak month at the end of 2022, at the same time, expand credit, continue to improve the lending processes and procedures, shorten loan approval time, and diversify credit products to facilitate people and enterprises in accessing credit capital to carry out production and business.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai, Deputy General Director of Aria Dong Thap Investment and Development Joint Stock Company, a pangasius processing and export unit, said that pangasius exports were good in the first two quarters of the year but faced difficulties in the last two quarters, due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the devaluation of the local currency. Therefore, it is recommended to keep the exchange rate stable and reduce interest rates. Mr. Pham Duc An, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank), said that in 2022, Agribank has prioritized assigning a credit growth plan of 11.6 percent to the Mekong Delta, equivalent to credit growth of about VND23 trillion. Up to now, Agribank has invested more than VND217 trillion in credit for this area, up 10.5 percent compared to 2021; outstanding loans to the agricultural and rural sector are VND180 trillion with 670,000 customers. It is expected that in 2022, Agribank will reduce about VND2 trillion to support interest rates for customers. Of which, the Mekong Delta region is expected to cut about VND300 billion. Mr. Dao Minh Tu, Standing Deputy Governor of the SBV, said that to create favorable conditions for enterprises and people to access bank credit for production and business activities, on December 5, the SBV adjusted the credit target for 2022 by about 1.5-2 percent. Credit institutions are required to balance appropriate capital to grant credit and focus capital on production and business sectors, especially priority areas such as agriculture and rural development.

Speaking at the conference, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, Governor of the SBV, requested that units in the banking industry should closely follow the market's movements, operate monetary policy following the objective of macro-economic stability and inflation control, ensuring system safety, at the same time, accelerate the implementation of the tasks of concentrating capital sources to promptly meet the capital needs of people and enterprises producing and trading in key export agricultural products with a reasonable term and interest rate according to preferential policies of the Government. The Governor of the SBV said that it is necessary to actively approach people and businesses in the seafood, rice, vegetable, and fruit industries to assess credit needs to ensure sufficient capital for businesses to purchase and export agricultural products of the Mekong Delta, at the same time, continue to focus capital on production and business fields, especially priority areas, such as agriculture and rural development, and rationally allocate credit to the key areas of the Mekong Delta. Especially, banks that have declared priority credit packages must take the responsibility to strictly and fully implement them as committed.