Agribank ramps up business support with fresh incentives

Agribank ramps up business support with fresh incentives

To facilitate business efforts to reach out to the global market, from July 17 until the end of this year, Agribank has expedited a $1.08 billion preferential credit programme to finance import and export customers.

The beneficiaries are businesses embracing import and export production and trading such as export of rice, meat, seafood, coffee, agricultural produce, handicrafts, and import of beverages, fertilisers, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, chemical cosmetics items, and building materials, among others.

Lending schemes are applicable to short-term loans that match business demands

The scheme is applicable to short-term loans with diversified lending methods, perfectly matching abundant capital demands from businesses. The interest rate is softer by up to 1 per cent compared to existing rates of diverse specific terms at Agribank.

Aside from rate incentives, the customers joining the initiative are also offered other attractive incentives associated with forex trading or service fee.

Millions of US dollars are being set aside to support businesses in forestry and seafood

Meanwhile, with a view to supporting businesses, including those operating in forestry and seafood, the State Bank of Vietnam has come up with a sizable credit scheme worth $652 million tailored to firms in those areas.

The bank is committed to setting aside approximately $130 million to expedite the lending programme, simultaneously exempting and lowering various kinds of service fees for customers partaking in the lending scheme in an attempt to help the customers ensure their financial stead, and from there maintaining stable production and material sources to be able to take upswing when the consumer market bounces back.

The beneficiaries are customers with projects and plans for production and trading in either forestry or seafood. The lending rate on VND is at least 1-2 per cent per year lower compared to existing average rates offered by the central bank with corresponding terms in each specific period. The lending scheme runs until the end of June 2024.

Furthermore, Agribank has been proactively implementing the 2 per cent annual interest subsidy policy with funding taken from the state budget to support businesses, co-operatives, and trading households in their rebound efforts, helping to drive socioeconomic development.

The programme is applicable to lending agreements with capital disbursement from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023, as well as to fulfill interest payment obligations with payment date started from May 20, 2022 also to the end of this year.

Elsewhere, the beneficiaries of a social housing lending scheme in light of a government resolution earlier this year are project developers and buyers at social housing projects, housing blocks for workers, and at projects on rehabilitating old-style residential blocs surfaced in the Ministry of Construction’s specific list.

The initiative began in April and will run until the disbursed capital volume touches VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion), yet not exceeding the end of 2030. Every six months, Agribank will make public the actual lending rate applicable during the preferable time running the programme.

The time with preferable interest rate for developers is three years for developers from the date of capital disbursement, yet not exceeding lending duration at the initial lending agreement; for house buyers, it is set at five years.

Agribank going from strength to strength After 35 years in business, Agribank still maintains its position as one of the leading banks in Vietnam, with its unique place among Vietnam's rural communities.

Agribank to receive VND17 trillion charter capital boost On the morning of May 13, the National Assembly Standing Committee convened its 23rd session to discuss the provision of supplementary charter capital amounting to VND17.1 trillion ($743.5 million) for Agribank.

Agribank chairman proposes additional capital injection During a recent conference reviewing Agribank's activities in the first half of 2023, chairman of the Board of Directors Pham Duc An put forward a proposal to increase the bank's charter capital. The move aims to ensure sufficient funds to support the bank's credit expansion goals.