Although many banks announced credit packages with
attractive preferential interest rates, businesses still have to borrow capital
at high interest rates.
Last weekend, Bank for
Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) launched a promotion program to
reduce the short-term lending interest rate to only 14.5-15.5% per year for
four prioritized sectors namely export, small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), agriculture and rural development and support for damages caused by
natural disasters.
Previously, many other lenders
also offered credit packages to support exports and soft loans with interest
rate of only from 16.5% per year and higher provided that these borrowers
commit to sell foreign currency for bank and use added services of bank.
However, according to Do Ha
Nam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), the
general lending interest rate benchmark has been lowered from few months ago
but the reduction was not enough to create the competitive advantages for local
enterprises.
Usually, by the fourth quarter
of each year, enterprises will start to purchase coffee to prepare for the next
crop. But currently, it is very hard to access bank loans due to banks’
tightening credit policy, Nam said.
The owner of a coffee
production and purchase firm in Dak Lak province also said that despite in the
prioritized group, his firm still has to borrow capital at the interest rate of
21% per year.
Explaining for the high
interest rates, a bank leader attributed the reason partially to the inter-bank
market. Small banks that now want to borrow capital from large banks must have
collateral and even they can borrow only 50% of the collateral.
"Many banks are borrowing
interbank capital at high interest rate, the low lending interest rate on the
first market (business and residential) will be hard to be impossible" the
bank leader said.
Real survey shows the actual
lending interest rate for common business and production activities is
currently at over 20% per year at commercial joint stock banks and it is 18-20%
per year at state commercial banks.
The State Bank of Vietnam
(SBV)’s report recently also showed that the common lending interest rate for
prioritized sectors such as export, agriculture and rural development and SMEs
at 15-18% per year, other business and production sectors at 18-21% per year
and it still remains high at 22-25% per year for non-production sector.
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