Through the Bank-Business Connection program, commercial banks disbursed VND568.34 trillion, equal to 131 percent of the preferential credit package registered since the beginning of the year, an increase of 16.6 percent compared to 2021.
This morning, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction and the Dien Phuc Thanh Housing Construction and Trading Company jointly organized the groundbreaking ceremony of a 600-apartment social housing project in Long Truong ward, Thu Duc City.
The State Bank of Vietnam-Ho Chi Minh City Branch informed that by the end of November this year, city-based credit institutions have disbursed nearly VND447.4 trillion of loans for 27,277 enterprises and households under the Bank-Business Connection Program, an increase of 120 percent compared to the credit package that 11 credit institutions registered in the program at the beginning of this year.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade said it is continuing the implementation of the program to connect banks and businesses with a credit support package of about VND 70,000 billion (US$3 billion ) in the fourth quarter of 2021 to support businesses to access to preferential loans.
Many economic experts said that with the current credit scale of over VND10 quadrillion if banks reduce the lending interest rate by 0.5 percent per annum, enterprises will have tens of trillions Vietnamese dong more to overcome difficulties. However, these experts also said that they barely expected a deep and wide wave of interest rate cuts because banks are enterprises themselves, so they must consider carefully when they give loans.
In the first three quarters of this year, bank credit growth was low, but since October, credit growth has shown signs of recovery. With favorable conditions, including abundant liquidity, low lending interest rates, and seasonal factors, banks are enabling credit flows to the market at the end of the year.
By June 16, the credit growth of the banking industry merely reached 2.13 percent compared to the beginning of this year. Thus, in the first nearly six months of this year, credit growth was only half of that in the same period last year due to the serious impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides supporting customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, commercial banks also introduced several support packages with interest rates lower than usual interest rates by 0.5 to 3 percent per annum, worth around VND250 trillion (US$10.66 billion), for both corporate and individual customers to stimulate credit demand.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Orient Joint Stock Commercial Bank (OCB) on March 27 signed a cooperation agreement on a US$100-million credit package and an advisory program to promote supply chain financing.
After the social housing credit package worth VND30 trillion has ended, a new policy has been issued enabling social housing buyers and investors to get low interest bank loans. Still the distance from the policy to reality is too long as only few have been able to access the loans.
The Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) said it petitioned an $800 million credit package from commercial banks to buy 500, 000 tons of raw materials for exports.
