On September 15, 2023, in Can Tho city, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), in coordination with the People's Committees of Can Tho city and the Mekong Delta provinces, organized a Conference on "Promoting credit to support enterprises in fisheries and rice sectors in the Mekong Delta".
SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu chaired the Conference
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 support policies for production and business operations, helping the people and businesses to access and utilize banks’ loans more easily and effectively.
An overview of the Conference
Credit flows have been focused on key sectors with advantages in the Mekong Delta
Speaking at the Conference, SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu asserted that the Mekong Delta is one of the key economic regions, and is also a region with dynamic development. Having identified the Mekong Delta as a critical region, the SBV has issued a lot of specific policies and mechanisms for the Mekong Delta, focusing on the rice and fisheries development. According to the SBV Deputy Governor, the SBV has recently sent official documents to the local authorities in the Mekong Delta requesting for their coordination in resolving the difficulties and promoting the credit flows in the region.
SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu speaks at the Conference
Reporting on the credit solutions to promote the marketing, consumption and export of aquatic and rice products in the Mekong Delta, Mrs. Ha Thu Giang, Director General of the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors of the SBV, informed that by the end of August 2023, the loan outstanding in the whole region had reached VND 1,000 trillion, an increase of 5.35% as compared to that of the end of 2022. Credit for agriculture and rural development has always received high priority for investment by the credit institutions, with the loan outstanding of nearly VND 535 trillion, a YOY increase of 6.04% (higher than the common credit growth rate of the region, and higher than the credit growth rate of 3.75% for agriculture and rural development nationwide); accounting for 51.76% of the total loan outstanding of the region and 17.44% of the loan outstanding nationwide for agriculture and rural development.
Notably, some key agricultural products of the region had impressive credit growth rates, specifically: the loan outstanding of the fisheries industry reached nearly VND 129 trillion, up by 8.5%, and accounted for nearly 59% of the national loan outstanding for the fisheries industry (of which, the loan outstanding of the pangasius and shrimp industries increased by 10.5% and 8.8% respectively; the loan outstanding of the rice industry reached nearly VND 103 trillion, an increase of 9.0% as compared to that of the end of 2022, and accounted for 53% of the national loan outstanding for the rice sector. It is expected that the credit growth rates for the two sectors will continue to increase rapidly thanks to the seasonal factors and recovering demands for exports.
The above results showed that the capital flows of the banking industry have focused on the key areas and sectors of advantages in 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 Mekong Delta provinces in particular and the whole country in general.
Mrs. Ha Thu Giang, Director General of the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors of the SBV, speaks at the Conference
It is necessary to put efforts into, show strong determination and join hands in implementing the solutions in support of production and business activities
At the Conference, representatives from the state management agencies, associations, enterprises and the credit institutions shared about their production results and export performances related to aquatic and rice products produced in the Mekong Delta, and recommended several possible measures and solutions for improvement.
Toward the end of the Conference, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu emphasized that in order to develop the Mekong Delta more strongly, it is necessary for the Party, the State and the Government to develop more favorable policies and mechanisms, as well as the strong efforts in their implementation by the local authorities, and the active engagement of all enterprises, household businesses in the region, and the system of the credit institutions.
The SBV Deputy Governor also shared about his view regarding the key tasks in the coming time, specifically:
For the credit institutions: they are requested to continue reducing the lending interest rates for new loans, and consider to cut down the interest rates of the existing loans; continue cutting down banking fees and unnecessary procedures; strengthen the linkages and the provision of loans based on the value chains, etc.
For the SBV provincial and municipal branches: they are requested to be the focal points connecting and supporting enterprises; to understand the difficulties and obstacles faced by enterprises; thereby, together with the commercial banks in their areas, supporting enterprises, especially in the priority areas and sectors, etc.
For enterprises: they should accelerate the restructuring of their production and business activities and the re-formulate their market strategies; improve their financial capacity, transparency of the money flows; proactively exchange with the banks about their difficulties to seek recommendations for possible solutions; engage more in the digital transformation; etc.
Le Hang