Eight commercial banks signed a contract May 8 with 45 businesses in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, to lend VND1.1 trillion (US$52.2 million) at 6-8 percent.
The deals were struck at a meeting arranged by the State Bank of Vietnam’s city branch and the district People’s Committee to link up lenders and businesses.
The eight banks are Sacombank, Vietcombank, ABBank, BIDV, Agribank, Eximbank, DongA Bank and ACB.
The central bank has organized nine such meetings this year, according to Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the branch.
These programs have yielded VND6.5 trillion in preferential loans to 270 enterprises, 21 home-based production units, and four cooperatives in nine districts.
Bank lending in the city grew by 1.47 percent in the first four months compared to 0.62 percent for the country as a whole, he added.
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