Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Three credit institutions have committed to sponsoring the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines to get loans worth 4 trillion VND (173.67 million USD), an official from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said on June 21.
The credit institutions are the Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank), the Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) and the Saigon - Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB).
According to Nguyen Tuan Anh, Director of the Credit Department for Economic Sectors under the SBV, the three banks and Vietnam Airlines are completing procedures and negotiations for credit agreements to disburse the loans late June or early July.
Earlier, the carrier proposed a support package worth 12 trillion VND to deal with difficulties caused by COVID-19, including refinancing loans worth 4 trillion VND.
Vietnam Airlines said despite the recovery of the whole domestic market, it has still lost more than 60 percent of revenue due to international routes yet to be resumed.
Last November, the National Assembly issued a resolution allowing the central bank to refinance and offer loan extensions no more than two times to banks that would lend Vietnam Airlines additional capital for the company to continue its operations.
In March, the Prime Minister also signed a decision allowing the SBV to provide refinancing loans worth 4 trillion VND to credit institutions that are lenders of the national flag carrier.
Last year, Vietnam Airlines posted a revenue of over 40.61 trillion VND, down 59 percent from 2019.
It conducted around 96,500 flights in the year, a drop of more than 48 percent as compared with the previous year due to the impact of COVID-19.
The carrier served 14.23 million passengers and handled nearly 195,000 tonnes of cargo, decreases of 51 percent and 47 percent, respectively./.
VNA
