The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Dec. 24 signed an agreement on loans worth 100 million USD to improve business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

The loans will be disbursed through a programme on SMEs development and a sub-project in the finance sector.

Ayumi Konishi, ADB’s Country Director in Vietnam said that small and medium-sized businesses are key to private sector development in Vietnam, adding that over the past time, the programme has made important contributions to creating jobs for about 1.7 million young workers annually.

Nguyen Van Giau, Governor of the SBV said that the programme would improve transparency of the market, helping raise State supervision capacity to companies, develop macro-economy and reduce poverty sustainably.

This programme aims to develop securities and bond field through policies to create transparency and protect investors and consumers, thus increasing stability and raising competitiveness in the sector./.