The capital city plans to launch major promotional activities to stimulate consumer demand for products from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

A May 24 conference here was told that the Government would spend 3 billion VND (140,000 USD), including about 1.2 billion VND from its budget, on the promotions.

The small businesses operate in the fields of food, beverage, essential goods, fashion, garments and textiles, footwear, household devices, interior decoration, arts and handicrafts, automobile, motorbike, hotel and restaurant services.

The conference was told that SMEs faced cumbersome administrative procedures, difficulties in accessing loans, production space shortages and high inventories.

Trung Thanh Co.’s general director Phi Ngoc Chung said that most commercial banks are devoted to large enterprises, making it hard for small businesses to access loans.

He said that it was still hard for SMEs to meet all bank conditions when trying to access loans with low interest rates.

Municipal People's Committee vice chairman Nguyen Van Suu said that the capital will send seven teams, including representatives from departments and sectors, to work directly with local enterprises to remove obstacles to business development and foster growth in production.

He said attention will be given to improving investment and business climates and creating more favorable conditions for firms. This will include trade promotion programmes to help reduce high inventories.-VNA