Many enterprises in Vietnam are currently facing several difficult challenges in running their operations and these ongoing obstacles are very likely to have a serious effect on their resilience in the long run.
Several banking, real estate, securities, and steel stocks fell to the floor despite the positive news that the State Bank of Vietnam has officially expanded the credit room by 1.5-5 percent, increasing credit growth in the year to 15.5-16 percent compared to the target of 14 percent at the beginning of the year.
Economic instability across the entire globe is bound to affect Vietnam as well. Although economic data for Vietnam shows that difficulties have been overcome, but the fact remains that scores of businesses are still struggling.
At a meeting with Ho Chi Minh City on the task of socio-economic development, disbursement of public investment capital, and the progress of key projects, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that it is necessary to design a tool to control investment activities in corporate bonds.
The country’s economy is recovering positively after the Covid-19 pandemic, making the capital demand for production and business increase. However, businesses are hungry for capital while banks exhaust credit quotas.
From the beginning of August 2022, many more banks including commercial banks with state capital have raised the interest rate offered on savings accounts to attract extra cash.
Central banks of countries such as Japan, China, Australia, Croatia and the Nordic countries have granted credit lines to their banks. However, as the banking system developed, this mechanism was dismantled.
It may not be necessary to apply a credit room if the State Bank of Vietnam asks commercial banks to apply safety indicators seriously and substantively according to Circular 41/2016/NHNN-TT and Basel II.
The discussion for granting credit limits to commercial banks heated up at the third session of the fifteenth National Assembly when delegate Mr. Trinh Xuan An from Dong Nai asked the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam to explain the rationality behind the credit room allocation mechanism, and whether it interfered with bank operations.
Since the beginning of the year, when production and business activities have been resumed, credit growth has increased robustly. By the beginning of June 2022, the credit of the banking industry had risen by 8 percent compared to the end of 2021, a rather high increase compared to the target of 14 percent for the whole year 2022. Currently, the demand for loans from individuals and businesses remains extremely high, but many banks have reached the limit of credit room, so they cannot lend any more.
By the end of June this year, credit growth is estimated at 5.5-6 percent compared to the end of last year. With this growth rate, a representative of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that the credit growth target of 12 percent would still be achieved by the end of this year. The SBV will closely monitor macroeconomic developments, the situation of the pandemic domestically and internationally to direct credit growth to focus on lending to the fields of production and business and contribute to promoting economic development.
Banks have launched several preferential credit packages to stimulate demand for business capital and spending to take advantage of the peak business and shopping season at the end of the lunar year.