4:58:27 PM | 13/11/2008
Ten commercial banks under the Vietnam Banking Association have pledged to give further financial assistance for steel enterprises who are encountering a number of difficulties, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
The banks said in special cases, they will ease pressure on loans and provide foreign currencies for steel enterprises to buy cheap-price materials.
Vietnam Banking Association and Vietnam Steel Association proposed the government to give preferential loans to steel enterprises, prioritizing capital for key construction works.
The enterprises also suggested setting up price stability fund soon. The fund will operate under the principle: when world steel ingot prices fall, enterprises will buy for stockpile.
To deal with difficulties, they also proposed raising tax on steel imports.
The steel enterprises said earlier that they were having an inventory of some 3 million tons of steel, including 700,000 tons of steel ingots and 500,000 tons of scrap steel, valued at US$2.1 billion in total.
Meanwhile, October was the consecutive fourth months seeing drop in steel sales which was reported at merely 120,000 tons. (VNA)
Vietnamese
