ADB Keeps Assisting Vietnamese Businesses

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced to provide a preferential loan of US$20 million for the second phase of a two-part business environment improvement project, aiming to facilitate the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

 

The SME Development Programme is the first policy loan of ADB in Vietnam, aiming to develop a business atmosphere by apply market-friendly methods and eliminate polices harmful to SMEs.

 

The loan is extracted from the Asian Development Fund lasting 24 years with eight grace periods. The interest rate is 1 per cent in the years with grace period and 1.5 per cent in the following years. French Development Agency and Deutsche Reconstruction Bank (KfW) are considering respective sponsorships of EUR13 million and EUR6 million for a sub-programme for the second time. The Ministry of Planning and Investment will manage the second sub-programme, which is slated for implementation from January 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008.