More credit loans eyed for Vietnam businesses

Senior experts made online discussions of ways of handling low growth of credit loans in Vietnamese banks.

The banks credit loans only grew by 0.76 percent in the first half this year, caused mainly by large inventories due to the global economic crisis.

Le Thanh Trung, deputy general director of HDBank, said: “To increase credit growth to 10 per cent in the remaining months this year, we need to stimulate demand for the entire market, especially in the retail and consumption sectors.

“As we all know, businesses in retail and consumption currently hold large inventories. We need a policy to stimulate consumption such as programmes related to education, healthcare, housing and other essentials,” he added.

VietinBank, according to its deputy general director Le Duc Tho, made it easier for businesses to access credit by offering more concerted measures for borrowers. The bank was willing to provide those in a sound financial position with competitive lending interest rates, and restructure existing loans for those who were experiencing difficulties.

The above-mentioned measures aimed to select suitable borrowers so as to maintain capital and benefit the banks.

For commodities where consumption needed to be stimulated, relevant bodies could consider slashing value added tax and looking at different capital channels.

If the above issues were handled in the correct manner, credit would grow, Trung said.

Sharing the idea, Le Duc Tho of VietinBank said the State Bank needed to restructure the national economy and implement suitable policies to boost aggregated demand on the domestic market.

The central bank was also asked to continue regulating policy on credit loans to adapt to changes in the market, while enhancing both corporate and risk management.

Tho said in the context of economic turmoil, businesses needed to make concerted efforts to raise production managerial skills and boost consumption, while mobilising all financial and human resources available.

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