Nguyen Thi Hong, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, assures that the banking industry would continue to help businesses overcome their difficulties and restore their health. — Photo courtesy of SBV They were made by business leaders at a conference held in Ho Chi MinhCity on May 11 with officials from the central bank, the HCM City People'sCommittee and other localities in the region, to discuss monetary and creditsolutions for their difficulties.
The country’s largest economic region accounts for 30.8% of itsGDP, 40.4% of FDI and 45% of revenue collections, but its growth is slowingdown.
Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, cited areport by the HCM City Union of Business Associations saying nearly 50% ofbusinesses lack orders and only work enough to retain employees, and so areunlikely to need bank loans.
But the rest have a need for working capital, and many facedifficulties in repaying loans, he said.
Forecasting that the economy would face challenges during therest of the year due to the escalating global difficulties, he urged the SBV toreduce loan interest rates to 7-8% from the high 10% now.
Nguyen Thi Hoang, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of DongNai province, said the SBV should instruct banks to actively implement the 2%interest rate subsidy programme mandated by the Government’s Decree 31/2022/ND-CP,and the debt rescheduling required by its own Circular No 02/2023/TT-NHNN.
She said businesses complain that the procedures for both arecomplicated, and so the banking industry needs to review them.
Ly Kim Chi, Chairwoman of the HCM City Food and FoodstuffAssociation, urged the SBV to reduce the policy rate by another 0.5 percentagepoints this month to help banks reduce their loan rates to 7-8%.
The current rates of around 10% make it difficult for businessesto recover, she said.
SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong assured that the banking industrywould continue to help businesses overcome their difficulties and restore theirhealth.
The SBV seeks to keep exchange rates steady and reduce loaninterest rates at an appropriate time, she said.
Localities and ministries need to closely co-ordinate with thebanking industry and come up with comprehensive support measures in terms ofcredit, taxes and fees, trade promotion, and administrative procedures, shesaid.
She urged banks to work with local authorities, businessassociations and industrial parks and export processing zones to enable lendingand cut costs to reduce interest rates.
“The State Bank of Vietnam wants to resolve difficulties faced bybusinesses while still ensuring monetary policy stability and macro-economicsafety.”/.
VNA
