A goal of disbursing VND30 trillion in loans for enterprises set by the HCMC government and the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCMC branch was not achieved last month as only two thirds of the amount was lent out.
Statistics of the central bank’s city branch show that of the VND20 trillion, the disbursement for agriculture, export, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and supporting industries was VND3.8 trillion, VND2.3 trillion, VND11.7 trillion and VND2.2 trillion respectively.
These figures are quite modest compared to the huge capital demand of the city. However, they are still much higher than the disbursed amounts for these four sectors in May.
Nguyen Van Dung, deputy director of the central bank branch in the city, said the reason for last month’s low credit growth was that banks and enterprises were losing mutual confidence as both had their own problems with enterprises suffering from high interest rates and banks facing mounting bad debt. Some banks think the financial capacities of SMEs are weak, so they have restricted lending to such firms.
Therefore, the branch has proposed the central bank set specific criteria for what financial capacities are deemed weak or strong and instruct banks about how to settle old and new debts of enterprises.
According to Nguyen Truong Nhan, deputy director of the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), the HCMC government last month instructed business associations to make a list of enterprises in need of capital, and the central bank branch in HCMC will then ask banks to lend to those in need.
However, few enterprises have put their names down to borrow loans, so Nhan said enterprises could contact IPTC, the Department of Industry and Trade, the HCMC Business Association or the HCMC Credit Guarantee Fund for registration.
Several enterprises looked passive at the meeting. They said banks did not clearly explain whey their loan applications were rejected and that many businesses still had to pay high interest rates, up to 18-19%, for their current loans.
In response to requests of enterprises, Tran Buu Long, deputy director of the credit guarantee fund, said the fund would consider guaranteeing loans for some SMEs having sound business plans.
Luong Ngoc Quy, deputy general director of Dong A Bank, said the bank was coordinating with the Young Business Association to provide VND1 trillion in loans for association member companies with a preferential interest rate.
Meanwhile, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) said it would also try to meet the funding demand of enterprises with an interest rate of less than 13.5% per year.
The Saigon Times Daily
