Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Commercial banks have stepped up lending to export firms,especially those in industrial parks and export processing zones, as exports ofmany goods have grown strongly this year.

Nguyen Duc Lenh, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s HCM Citybranch, said total outstanding loans in HCM City by the end of April 2022reached more than 3 quadrillion VND (130 billion USD), of which about 196trillion VND was poured into the Government’s priority areas, including exports.

According to Lenh, the loans have helped many firms in industrial parks andexport processing zones maintain production and business. The credit growth forthe firms reached 24.4 percent in Q1 2022, a fairly high level compared to theaverage credit growth of the whole banking system.

Hua Quoc Hung, head of the Management Board of HCM City Export Processing Zoneand Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA), said HEPZA has conducted many surveys oncredit demand, ability to access capital, and financial sources for firms inindustrial parks and export processing zones so as to propose to the SBV andcommercial banks appropriate policies.

According to Hung, lending to firms has been effective, helping them maintainproduction and business during the peak period of the pandemic and recoverright after HCM City reopened.

In other cities, the lending to manufacturing and export has also increased.

Nguyen Thai Minh Quang, director of Commercial Joint Stock Bank for ForeignTrade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)’s Bình Dương Province branch, said the bank iscurrently still maintaining an interest rate reduction policy of 0.5-1.5 percentper year for corporate and individual customers. Vietcombank’s Bình DươngProvince branch has lowered interest rates for 87 percent of loans of corporateand individual customers.

Vo Van Buu, director of Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade ofVietnam (VietinBank)’s Binh Duong Industrial Park branch, said the bankhas launched many preferential loan programmes, which are exclusiveto manufacturing and export areas. Thus, firms in the areas have manyopportunities to access loans with low interest rates to serve their productionand business needs.

Private and foreign banks are also accelerating capital financing formanufacturing and export firms to capitalise on the strong recovery of exportactivities, especially in textile and garment, agriculture, fishery andprocessing industries.
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A representative of ShinhanBank in HCM City said the bank is currently lendingwell in industrial parks and export processing zones, with outstanding loans ofsome 30 million USD at a preferential interest rate of about 7.5 percent peryear in the first one to three years. The loans to firms in industrialparks and export processing zones are continually growing well as the bank isexpanding to other provinces and cities with many industrial zones.

Meanwhile, domestic banks such as HCM City Development Commercial Joint StockBank (HDBank), Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank), TienPhong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) and Orient Commercial Joint StockBank (OCB) have also boosted financing for export firms.

TPBank, for example, has launched a loan package worth 1 trillion VND for firmsto develop livestock farms with an interest rate of 8 percent per year, whileHDBank applied a preferential loan package of 1 trillion VND until mid-2022 tofinance salary payments for corporate clients with interest rates from 6.8 percentper year.

Along with the strong recovery of domestic firms after successfully controllingthe pandemic, it is expected that banks’ credit will continue to be poured intoproduction and business areas to recover the economy in many cities andprovinces in the near future./.