On December 13, 2022, in Can Tho city, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), in coordination with the People's Committee of Can Tho city, organized a Conference on "Credit solutions to promote the purchase, consumption and export of key agricultural products in the Mekong Delta".
SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the Conference
Prioritizing credit for the purchase, consumption and export of key agricultural products
Speaking at the Conference, First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu of the SBV assessed that the Mekong Delta is a region with many potentials and advantages for agricultural development, and is a major producer and exporter of aquatic products, rice, fruits and vegetables. Over the past time, in order to create an enabling environment and a momentum for the development of the economic sectors, especially key agricultural products, the SBV has been strongly implementing synchronous solutions to maintain the socio-economic stability, contributing to controlling the inflation, removing difficulties, supporting the market, encouraging and creating favorable conditions for businesses and individuals to access bank credit for production and business operations.
SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Can Tho Municipal Party Committee Secretary Le Quang Manh co-chair the Conference
On December 5, 2022, the SBV adjusted the credit growth targets for 2022 with a further increase of 1.5%-2% for the whole system of credit institutions. The SBV Governor also requested the credit institutions to balance their capital for the new credit extension, focusing on production and business operations, especially in the priority fields such as agriculture and rural areas.
The Conference was aimed to exchange and share the results achieved by the businesses in the region, and to identify the difficulties and obstacles, as well as to understand the capital needs of businesses, and to find possible solutions to remove the difficulties for both the banks and the businesses, continuing to promote the credit programs and policies for production and business, helping people and businesses to access and utilize banks’ loans more easily and effectively, focusing on providing sufficient capital for the purchase, consumption and export of agricultural products in the last months of 2022 and early 2023.
SBV First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu speaks at the Conference
Sharing information at the Conference, Ms. Ha Thu Giang, Deputy Director General in charge of the SBV Department of Credit for Economic Sectors, said that by the end of November 2022, the results of banking activities in the Mekong Delta had achieved positive progress: the capital mobilization reached VND 718,905 billion, an increase of 8.68% as compared to that of the end of 2021; the loan outstanding reached VND 955,451 billion, an increase of 13.53% as compared to that of the end of 2021. Credit for agriculture and rural development has always received high priority for the investment by the credit institutions, with the loan outstanding of nearly VND 540,000 billion, an increase of nearly 15% as compared to that of the end of 2021.
Some key agricultural products of the region had impressive credit growths, specifically: (i) The loan outstanding of the fisheries industry reached VND 112,455 billion, up by 16%, and accounted for nearly 54% of the national loan outstanding for the fisheries industry; (ii) the loan outstanding of the rice sector reached VND 89,388 billion, an increase of nearly 13% as compared to that of the end of 2021, and accounted for nearly 55% of the national loan outstanding for the rice sector; the loan outstanding of the fruit and vegetable sector reached VND 19,441 billion and accounted for about 21% of the national loan outstanding.
The above results showed that the capital flows of the banking industry have focused on the key fields and sectors of the Mekong Delta in accordance with directions of the Government, the Prime Minister and the SBV, contributing greatly to promoting the socio-economic development of the provinces in the Mekong Delta in particular and the whole country in general.
Mr. Le Quang Manh, Secretary of Can Tho Municipal Party Committee
Proactively removing difficulties and meeting fully the needs for credit capital
With the spirit of accompanying and sharing difficulties with the people and businesses, the banking industry has always been ready to conduct appropriate solutions to remove the difficulties and meet the capital needs for the economic development in the Mekong Delta provinces, especially the capital needs for export of key agricultural products. At the Conference, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also requested the entities in the banking industry to closely monitor the developments of the market, manage the monetary policy in consistence with the goals of maintaining the macro-economic stability, controlling the inflation and ensuring prudent banking operations; proactively assess the capital needs in the fisheries, rice, fruit and vegetable sectors, etc., in order to ensure sufficient capital for enterprises to purchase and export agricultural products of the Mekong Delta.
The Governor further requested the credit institutions to continue to focus their capital on production and business operations, especially the priority sectors such as agriculture and rural development; allocate appropriate credit to the key regions like the Mekong Delta. Those banks that had announced preferential credit packages must take responsibility for strict and full implementation of their commitment.
The SBV provincial and municipal branches are also requested to closely monitor the lending activities of the credit institutions in their jurisdiction, especially the implementation of the credit policies for agriculture and rural development, including fisheries, rice, fruits and vegetables,… closely monitor the situations of purchasing and exporting key agricultural products in their areas, ensuring that the banking sector can promptly and fully meet the capital demands for purchasing, consumption and export of agricultural products; regularly coordinate with the associations, businesses, organizations and individuals in their areas, and set up hotlines to proactively receive and handle with feedbacks over banking operations.
The SBV Governor also emphasized the important role of the Provincial People's Committees in the Mekong Delta, the relevant provincial departments, agencies and authorities, in sharing and closely coordinating with the banking industry to implement the policies; promoting the implementation of the Bank-Enterprise Connection Conferences to jointly remove the difficulties related to land use, taxation, infrastructure, etc., helping the people and businesses in the Mekong Delta to overcome their difficulties and recover the production and business activities, creating a momentum for the economic development in the coming time.
Le Hang