Hanoi (VNA)ಞ - The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has announced that it will suspend collection of loan interest from borrowers affected by Typhoon Yagi and the subsequent flooding until December 31.

VBSP Deputy General Director of VBSP Huynh Van Thuan made the announcement on September 19 after the government held a conference with localities still reeling from the impact of the storm, causing the bank to come to the aid for customers. The bank has directed its units to coordinate with local authorities, relevant socio-political organisations, and related entities to review the damage suffered by borrowers to deploy support measures, and help customers recover quickly, resume production, and stabilise their lives soon. Along with accelerating the disbursement of policy credit packages to the right beneficiaries based on the review data, VBSP is building a plan to provide new loans to affected customers, which will be submitted to authorities for approval with priority given to localities severely affected by the typhoon to restore production. Thuan held that, based on the level of damage to capital and assets, VBSP will assess risky loans and submit the results to competent authorities for timely resolution. This aims at helping affected borrowers overcome the consequences of the natural disaster, stabilise their lives, and quickly restore production and business activities. VBSP also offered debt payment extensions and adjusted repayment schedules on loans with debt due from September. The maximum extension is typically 12 months for short-term loans and up to half the term for medium- and long-term loans. On September 17, the government issued a resolution outlining key tasks to urgently address Typhoon Yagi’s aftermath, striving to swiftly stabilise people’s lives, boost the recovery of production and business, and promote economic growth while keeping inflation under control. In particular, VBSP was required to speed up the disbursement of policy credit programmes, review the damage suffered by borrowers, assess the need for new loans, and propose funding sources. The bank was asked to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to report to the relevant authorities for approval. Regarding funding for the implementation of the resolution, Thuan said that VBSP is currently reviewing and assessing loan demand for production recovery to formulate a lending plan. Based on local borrowing needs, the bank will develop a plan to supplement the credit growth target for 2024, balance available funds, report to competent agencies, and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration in October, he said. The proposed additional funding approximates about 4.9 trillion VND (193 million USD)./.