With the recovery momentum returning, businesses need to speed up credit

Many businesses are trying to take advantage of opportunities from the economy to recover. Illustration photo: H.Diu

Strive for credit growth in the first 6 months of about 5%

At the recent regular Government meeting, credit growth was slow (by the end of May it only grew 2.41%), difficult access to credit capital is one of the problems and limitations that the Prime Minister has raised. government pointed out. Therefore, the head of the Government has continued to request proactive, flexible, timely and effective monetary policy management; coordinate synchronously, harmoniously and closely with reasonable, focused and key expansionary fiscal policies. At the same time, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for businesses and people to access credit capital; Continue to reduce lending rates.

It can be seen that the issue of promoting credit growth has been mentioned a lot in the directions and administration of the Government and the State Bank (SBV) in recent months. Many banks expressed that although deposit interest rates are on the rise, lending interest rates still remain low, combined with abundant liquidity, banks always want to find customers to lend.

Currently, banks are lending to corporate customers at an average interest rate of 4-6%/year, and to individual customers at 6-8%/year. At the same time, banks also offer many preferential credit programs, "tailored" to each specific field and industry, thereby creating favorable conditions for businesses to access credit.

In addition, two major economic "locomotives" are also promoting a series of preferential credit programs, connecting banks and businesses to create credit traction for the whole country, resulting in credit growth twice as high as the national average growth rate.

In Hanoi, by the end of May 2024, total outstanding credit debt is estimated to reach over 3.8 million billion VND, an increase of 5.09% compared to the end of 2023. Hanoi Statistics Department said that organizations Credit institutions in the area have launched many preferential credit programs and packages, applying flexible interest rate policies.

In Ho Chi Minh City, credit growth by the end of May is estimated to reach 3.61 million billion VND, an increase of 4.5% compared to the end of 2023. However, the problem is how the banks and businesses can meet each other in the credit relationship because barriers to accessing credit are still many, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises or businesses that have encountered difficulties and losses in business.

So that businesses have effective business plans to access loans

According to Mr. Le Tien Truong, Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), market demand is gradually recovering, helping textile and garment exports in the first quarter of 2024 increased by over 10% compared to the same period last year. But to recover further, businesses need resources and capital to implement production and business plans. Meanwhile, Mr. Truong said that production and business results in 2023 are bad, so the trend of credit capital in 2024 for businesses will be lower. For example, in the fiber industry, in 2024, yarn production and trading enterprises will only be approved for a limit 20% lower than in 2023, so many businesses will lack working capital to import raw materials.

Emphasizing the losses if we do not support the fiber industry to recover, Vinatex Chairman stated that world markets such as China, Bangladesh, India... are ready to compensate for the amount of fiber that Vietnam loses, so if we do not quickly If Vietnam quickly recovers, the Vietnamese fiber industry will lose its ability to dominate the market. Therefore, this person recommends that commercial banks need to accompany businesses and work in detail with businesses to see that the profit margin on revenue of each unit, business, and subsequent orders is better than previous orders, the number of orders this year is greater than last year... to consider and grant appropriate credit limits.

In addition, Dr. Mac Quoc Anh, Permanent Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (HANOISME), has repeatedly proposed that Hanoi's small and medium enterprises account for 98.2% of the total number of registered businesses, creating jobs for 55.1% of the total workforce, contributing over 40% of GRDP to the City, but many small and medium-sized enterprises, especially micro-enterprises, still have difficulty with loan procedures. When commercial banks require mortgages, many businesses in this area lack and are weak in this condition. Also regarding collateral conditions, Ms. Nguyen Hai Binh, General Director of STP Group Joint Stock Company, said that the enterprise assets are attached to water bodies, while the regulation is that mortgage assets are assets attached to land.

Given the above situation, representatives of business associations and businesses expressed their desire for banks to research appropriate unsecured lending mechanisms, or lending based on feasible business plans for businesses to have more favorable access to capital.

Faced with the difficulties of businesses, the State Bank of Vietnam has directed banks to actively review projects to ensure timely credit supply for feasible projects, speed up loan approval, and apply appropriate measures. Flexible methods and forms of loan collateral in accordance with regulations; promote the diversification of appropriate banking credit products and services... The State Bank has even asked banks not to let businesses have effective business plans that fully meet the provisions of law without access to loans; Regularly organize bank-business connection programs...

However, to promote and pull credit growth to achieve the target, experts believe that it is necessary to synchronously implement many solutions to support economic growth and macroeconomic stability. In particular, it is necessary to support enterprises in the output market, improve the business environment in a favorable direction as well as combine preferential mechanisms and policies for enterprises to invest and apply new technology... so that enterprises both recovering and creating conditions for businesses to absorb capital effectively, avoiding the risk of bad debt.