State bank: credit up 9.09 pct from late last year

Hanoi (VNA) – The State Bank of Vietnam announced on September 7 that credit rose 9.09 percent from the end of 2015 as of August 23, most of them poured into production and priority fields set by the government.

Lending for agriculture and rural development was estimated at nearly 900 trillion VND as of August, up 6.64 percent from late 2015, accounting for nearly 18 percent of the total outstanding loans of the economy.

As of August 15, four State-owned commercial banks signed credit contracts worth 6.57 trillion VND to build 590 new fishing boats and upgrade 73 others.

Fishermen in the provinces of Nghe An, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Tien Giang, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Ngai, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Ninh Thuan began paying debts for shipbuilding.

As of the end of the second quarter this year, 540 dialogues were held in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide between banks and businesses to seek ways clearing difficulties in debt payment facing more than 50,000 firms and 120,000 other debtors, including cooperatives and household businesses.

New loans committed by banks in the period totalled more than 800 trillion VND to businesses, marking a four-fold increase from the late 2014, with interests ranging from 6-9 percent per annum for short-term loans and 9-11 percent per year for long-term ones.

Fishermen affected by unusual fish deaths in the central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue are enabled to enjoy interest waive and reduction.

As of August 15, banks offered new loans worth nearly 300 billion VND to more than 3,700 affected fishermen.-VNA