Most businesses that are in need of capital in the current economic scenario expect a regulatory adjustment, as most of them are facing extreme difficulties in running their entire operations.
The State Bank of Vietnam has announced adjustment of credit limit for 2022 for fifteen commercial banks by 1 percent to 4 percent, and at the same time requested banks to step up disbursement of the 2-percent interest rate support package as per Decree 31/2022/ND-CP.
Facing the pressure of increasing prices of goods, many enterprises worry that lending interest rates will stay at a relatively high level in the coming time.
On the first days of the new year 2022, many businesses have accelerated production to meet orders of millions of US dollars. Many of them even have planned to expand their production scale to receive orders that are moving from countries in the region to Vietnam.
The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Economic Recovery yesterday held a regular meeting to update the pandemic status in the city as well as matters related to the upcoming Tet Holiday.
Important documents of the 13th Party Congress for the first time has identified science-technology and innovation as a strategic breakthrough for the national development. This is the foundation for the creation of a friendly environment to maximize the values from startup activities and scientific knowledge of the community.
The Government has just submitted a support package of VND350 trillion (US$15.43 billion) for socio-economic recovery and development to the National Assembly. This is the largest stimulus package in history up to this point, with the expectation that the entire economy will overcome the pandemic, ensuring that no one is left behind.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment has just submitted to the Government a program for economic recovery and development after the Covid-19 pandemic. The scale of the program calls for a package of VND800,000 billion, about 10 percent of the GDP, and 3.5 times higher than the 2021 support package.
Vietnam has suffered huge economic losses in the past two years. In 2020, economic growth was expected to be 6.8 percent, but it was only 2.9 percent for the whole year. In 2021, the economic growth target is 6 percent, but the actual achievement will possibly be not higher than 3 percent. It means that within two years, the country has lost about 7 percent of its GDP (GDP is currently about US$343 billion), equivalent to a loss of nearly $24 billion. Mr. Tran Hoang Ngan, Director of the HCMC Institute for Development Studies (HIDS) stated.
HCMC since October 01 has been deploying welfare packages worth US$323 million in total meant for 7.3 million citizens along with other support programs, bringing about positive changes in local communities.
According to Mr. Chu Tien Dung, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Associations (HUBA), the resources of enterprises have been exhausted, and they no longer have enough capital to restore production quickly. Therefore, businesses need mechanisms and support policies to remove difficulties for economic recovery and development in the coming time.
Many commercial banks have announced a 0.5-3 percent cut in lending interest rates and many policies to support customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, feedback from individual customers in Ho Chi Minh City shows that banks have refused to aid them, even when they are in blocked areas and need priority.
The Standing Board for the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City yesterday held a ceremony of receiving and handing over a support package including cash, essential goods and stuff, critically-needed medical equipment and supplies donated by the Committee for Social Affairs under the National Assembly to the agencies, units, hospitals and residents in the city.
Ho Chi Minh City is still in its shelter-in-place period, leading to life of many citizens turning more troublesome. As directed by Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen, the municipal authorities are doing their best to make sure each resident here receive the highest social security level possible. These leaders have shared with Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper positive achievements from the latest innovative policies implemented in the city.
The wave of interest rate cuts has been activated, and it is forecasted that the interest rate level will remain low from now until the end of the year to support businesses and the economy amid the context that the Covid-19 pandemic prolongs as currently.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made many a large number of people living in Ho Chi Minh City, especially those from other provinces, face so many financial difficulties. The municipal authorities have tried all ways to offer both physical and spiritual help to those vulnerable individuals. In reality, however, there are still cases that have not received sufficient support. A collaboration between the localities and communities is they key to cover all emergency situations.
A month has passed since the first day Ho Chi Minh City applied Directive 16. In an interview with SGGP Newspaper, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong affirmed that the municipal authorities will mobilize all possible resources, even from the reserved city budget, in order to ensure social security to all city dwellers.
More than 12,000 enterprises have to leave the market every month. Not to mention that in the past two months, when the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic became complicated, many enterprises had to temporarily suspend operations because they failed to ensure the three-on-site production and the work of transporting workers from their residences to the workplace.