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at the press conference |
At a press conference held by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to announce the results of banking operations in the first quarter of 2023, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu said more about the credit package of VND 120,000 billion for social housing and worker housing.
According to him, the lending mechanism will be decided by commercial banks, but the lending interest rate for implementing social housing projects will be reduced by 1.5 percent for investors who pour money into building social housing and rebuilding old apartments. Along with that is a 2-percent discount for buyers with a flexible mechanism. However, each home borrower will only be able to borrow once for a social house in the credit package of VND 120,000 billion.
Regarding the credit package of VND 120,000 billion, Ms. Ha Thu Giang, Director of the Credit Department of the State Bank of Vietnam, said that borrowers must meet the conditions prescribed by law and the loan conditions of current commercial banks.
When all money in the VND120,000 billion credit package is disbursed, the program will stop but no later than December 31, 2023. Loan interest rate is expected from 8.2 percent to 8.7 percent a year, the application period is 3 years for investors and 5 years for home buyers.
Also at the press conference, the representative of SBV announced the credit growth for the first quarter of 2023. As of March 28, 2023, the amount of credit provision in the country's economy increased by 2.06 percent compared to the end of 2022 and increased by 11.17 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
The representative assessed this growth as not high compared to the same period in 2022 with the same period last year. This comes from the country’s general difficulties causing the capital needs of enterprises to slow down; moreover, some projects which are receiving money saw stoppage during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Although the increase was not as expected in the first quarter, he said that the year’s credit growth is still estimated at 14-15 percent as the set target.
