For the past time, due to economic turmoil, enterprises in Ninh Thuan province have faced large challenges such as declining consumption, shrinking markets and higher input prices. With the direction of local authorities, Ninh Thuan branch of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has closely coordinated with commercial banks to support the business community, helping them gradually stabilise production; thus, contributing to provincial economic growth.
Right after the issuance of Resolution 13/NQ-CP dated 10th May 2012 on solutions to deal with difficulties of production, trade and support market of the Vietnam Government, and Plan 2708/KH-UBND implementing Resolution 13; Ninh Thuan branch of SBV has actively guided credit institutions, enterprises and individuals in the province; organise conferences connecting banks and enterprises to timely acknowledge and tackle difficulties and obstacles. Commercial banks in the province also cut down costs, reduced loan interest rates, restructured loan maturities and reduced or exempted interest rates for customers in financial difficulty, concentrating on prior fields. After 7 months of implementation, provincial banking system have restructured loan maturities for 502 customers with VND220 billion; reduced loan interest rates for 25,185 credit contracts; reduced loan interest rates for 37 loans with reduced value of VND2.5 billion; granted short term loans to prior industries and fields to 26,198 credit contracts with revenues of VND5,960 billion. Thanks to these positive supports, enterprises have opportunities to restructure their business plans, and re-invest to overcome difficulties.
Moreover, commercial banks in the province also implement many products and credit packages with favourable interest rates, such as Agribank, BIDV, Vietinbank and Vietcombank.
According to Mr Le Van Cuong, Director of SBV Ninh Thuan, regarding difficulties of banks, helping enterprises overcome obstacles is helping themselves and the whole economy. In 2012, commercial banks in the province have actively reduced loan interest rates to earlier contracts to 15 percent per year; implemented many programmes and credit packages with favourable interest rates to create an access for enterprises. On 21st December 2012, the SBV issued Circular 32/2012/TT-NHNN and Circular 33/2012/TT-NHNN on reducing deposit and short term loan credit rates to 5 prior fields. In compliance with them, banks in the province reduced deposit interest rates for terms of 1 - 11 months from 9 percent to 8 percent; and reduced deposit interest rates for terms from 12 months from 12 percent – 13 percent to 10.5 percent – 12 percent. Generally, this is a positive signal to continue reducing loan interest rates.
In parallel with regulations on reducing interest rates, the SBV handled interest rate cap violations quite seriously. In Ninh Thuan province, the SBV branch always supervises closely the interest rates list, examines capital mobilisation and credit activities in banks that have high interest rates and have not adjusted them to 15 percent in compliance with Resolution 13; and at the same time, through off site supervision, identifies banks with rapid and sudden capital mobilising rates to implement irregular supervision.
Mr Cuong said that although the province has not discovered any deposit interest rate cap violation, to discover and handle totally with it, cooperation is necessary between the SBV, commercial banks, authorities at all levels, industries, organisations and individuals, to achieve together the targets of inflation restraint, stable economic growth and enterprise supports as Government has proposed.
Thanh Phuc
Vietnamese
