Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Le Minh Hung chaired an online meeting with SBV’s branches and credit organisations on April 22 concerning the issue of strengthening banking credit to support businesses and people in overcoming difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to statistics from the SBV’s Department of Credit for Economic Sectors, banks have implemented debt restructuring and the maintenance of debt classification for 166,544 customers so far, with total outstanding loans of roughly VND62.84 trillion (US$2.66 billion), while lowering interest rates of existing loans worth over VN948.4 trillion (US$40.14 billion) for 289,204 customers. In addition, more than 146,570 customers have been offered new loans totalling VND511.23 trillion (US$21.64 billion) at preferential interest rates.
Hung highly appreciated the commercial banks’ sharing spirit for the community as well as their efforts to support enterprises and customers affected by COVID-19 over recent times, urging credit organisations to simplify procedures to facilitate businesses’ and people’s access to loans.
However, in order to prevent long-term consequences for the economy, ensure credit safety and maintain the healthy operation of the banking activities, credit conditions should not be lowered, he insisted.
The SBV Governor requested that the entire banking system continue in implementing support policies for people and enterprises, while calling on credit organisations to provide optimal support to their borrowers and the economy in the current period as well as the post-pandemic period.
He instructed commercial banks to apply appropriate incentive mechanisms to encourage their branches, transaction offices and employees to be more active in clearing difficulties for customers, and to strictly handle acts of hindering debt restructuring for businesses.
In addition to restructuring debts for enterprises, commercial bank should also consider restructuring debt for individual customers whose incomes have declined due to the impact of the disease, Hung said.
