Vietnam lenders required to maintain loan standards
HANOI: The central bank is calling on lenders to facilitate access to capital for businesses, while also maintaining lending standards to ensure the safety of credit amid low demand.

Speaking at a meeting last Friday in Hanoi, Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said the central bank will monitor banks that have a huge disparity between deposit and lending rates as part of its policy to support firms to access capital.

It has ordered lenders to provide “safe and healthy” credit and support firms to ensure credit growth is aligned with their risk management capabilities.

“With a surplus of capital for lending, credit institutions have been assigned a yearly credit limit of 15%,” he said.

The central bank will continue to monitor market developments closely and be prepared to provide timely, appropriate, and proactive additional credit limits to support liquidity.

Last year, the central bank ordered lenders to restructure repayment terms and maintain debt groups for businesses by June 30 of this year.

It has proposed that the government extend the deadline for another six months, according to Tu.

In addition, it has implemented various measures to facilitate access to production and business loans, such as reducing interest rates and organising credit programmes for priority sectors.

While the average deposit and lending interest rates have decreased significantly compared to the end of 2023, outstanding lending reached 13.6 quadrillion dong as of the end of March, up only 0.61% over the end of 2023.

While deposit interest rates have constantly dropped since March last year, lending rates remain too high, experts said.

To Thi Tuong Lam, deputy secretary-general of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers or Vasep, said interest rates for US dollar loans for export businesses remain too high and banks should reduce the rates to 4% per year.

Currently, the interest rate for US dollar loans for seafood exporters is 6% to 7% per year. It is up 8% to 8.5% per year for small businesses without collateral assets, she said.

Pham Van Viet, director of Viet Thang Jeans, said a majority of businesses were facing challenges in accessing loans, especially for long-term capital and preferential loan packages for specific industries.

“They need to be flexible, not only providing mortgage loans but also lending through business methods, managing revenue from sales.”

Experts proposed the government should have policies to stimulate consumer demand, investment demand and public investment disbursement.

In addition, the policy of reducing the value-added tax by 2% should be extended instead of ending on June 30, they noted. The central bank had set a credit growth target of 15% this year. — Viet Nam News/ANN
Banking
HANOI: The central bank is calling on lenders to facilitate access to capital for businesses, while also maintaining lending standards to ensure the safety of credit amid low demand.