Huynh Thien Phu (third from left), business development director of Sacombank signs a contract to provide loans to five businesses at a meeting held in HCM City on October 20 to review a programme to link up banks and businesses. (Photo courtesy of Sacombank)Nguyen Hoang Minh, its deputy director, said the COVID-19 pandemic hadadversely affected the city’s socio-economy, but his office has enhancedmeasures to mitigate the difficulties faced by businesses in line with thedirection of the central bank and the city People’s Committee.
Eleven banks have registered to participate in a programme that seeks toconnect lenders with businesses this year, and plan to provide credit of 312trillion VND (13.7 billion USD) at preferential interest rates, reduce interestrates on old loans and roll them over, and increase credit limits.
As of October 20 nearly 19,300 customers have got loans worth 216.5 trillion VND(9.5 billion USD) under the programme, Minh told a meeting held in HCM City onOctober 20 to review the programme’s performance and set tasks for theremaining months of the year.
Minh said: “From now until the end of the year, the SBV’s HCM City branch willcontinue to provide support to enterprises in accordance with Circulars 01, 05and 14 to meet their funding needs for production and business recovery with afocus on industries that are the driving forces of economic growth.”
The programme would strive to disburse 70 trillion VND (3.07 billion USD) inthe last months of the year, he said.
Demand for funds increased at the end of the year, but there would be noshortage, he assured.
The banking industry was committed to ensuring sufficient loans at preferentialinterest rates to help businesses revive production and trading, he said.
Phan Thi Thang, vice chairwoman of the city People's Committee, said the cityunderstood the difficulties and challenges faced by the business community inthe current context.
The banking sector had really become a reliable partner for enterprises,implementing a number of credit policies to enable them to stabilise andovercome difficulties caused by the pandemic, including debt restructuring,waiver or reduction of interest and fees, and offering preferential loans tofirms in supporting industries and those that use technology.
She called on the SBV’s HCM City branch to co-ordinate with the Department ofIndustry and Trade, the HCM City Union of Business Associations and banks withheadquarters and branches in the city and propose to the central bank furthercuts in interest rates for sectors that were severely affected by the pandemicsuch as tourism, transportation and accommodation.
“More preferential policies are needed for businesses in the city,” she said.
Minh said until the end of the year the banking sector would organise manyactivities to enable enterprises to borrow from banks.
Vo Xuan Boi Lam, general director of USM Healthcare Medical Devices FactoryJSC, said last year her company received support from its bank in terms ofrestructuring loans and reducing interest rates, which helped reduce itsdifficulties.
This year it had offered the company a 10 per cent reduction in interest rateson all outstanding loans between July and year-end and an additional loan of 120billion VND to supplement its working capital.
This helped the company stay strong during social distancing, and it hadsecured export orders and ensured stable incomes for its employees, she said.
“Cash flow is very important for businesses at this period,” she said.
Banks should continue to roll over debts and waive and reduce interest, andprovide new loans so that businesses could continue to stabilise theiroperations, she added.
Banks to provide loans for COVID-affected firms
Also at the meeting to review a programme to link up banks and businesses,Sacombank and 15 other banks agreed to provide preferential loans to corporatecustomers so that they could restore and expand their business after theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Sacombank has set aside 5 trillion VND (219.5 million USD) to lend to fiveenterprises at interest rates starting at 0.5-1.5 percent.
Since joining the programme in 2012, Sacombank has given nearly 84 trillion VND(3.7 billion USD) in preferential loans to businesses.
It has also set aside a preferential credit package worth 20 trillion VND (878.2million USD) to support businesses and individuals facing difficulties due tothe pandemic at interest rates of just 4.5 percent and loan terms of up tothree months and 5.5 percent for terms of up to six months, and 4 percent forexport firms.
The preferential loans will be available until the end of this year or thepackage is exhausted, whichever is earlier./.
VNA
