Banks will simplify lending procedures to help businesses easily access the VND285 trillion stimulus package, but they will not ease lending standards to ensure the stability of the financial and banking system, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.
To support businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, banks have introduced a credit package worth VND285 trillion with low interest rates. However, many businesses claimed they could not access the package and proposed that banks ease lending rules.
Nghiem Xuan Thanh, chair of Vietcombank, said most companies that could not access the package are inefficiently operating their businesses. “Banks will not ease lending standards as they must avoid risk,” he stressed.
The package does not come from the State budget but from commercial banks. Some experts noted that the package aims to offer loans with low interest rates to businesses during the coronavirus pandemic but will not rescue inefficient businesses that are unable to pay their debts.
Tran Hoang Ngan, head of the HCM City Economic Development Institute, stated that banks are themselves businesses so they are always afraid of bad debts. If banks struggle with bad debts, the situation will worsen, similar to the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Banks are not the only source of aid for businesses. Ngan said to save small and medium-sized enterprises that find it hard to access the stimulus package, the government should add more money to the credit guarantee fund.
