Hanoi connects commercial banks with local businesses

Hanoi – More than 100 businesses and 43 investors of industrial clusters and nearly 20 commercial banks participated in a conference on August 15 to connect local firms of Hanoi with commercial banks and the Hanoi Development Investment Fund (HANIF).

An overview of the conference. (Photo: VNA)

The event was jointly held by the city's Department of Industry and Trade, the Hanoi Branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Hanoi Association of Main Industrial Products (HAMI).

Addressing the event, Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Acting Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, said that the conference aimed to provide a chance for banks and investment funds to introduce soft loans and support programmes to businesses, helping them overcome difficulties and develop.

In order to promptly launch infrastructure projects in industrial parks and clusters in the city, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade suggested that businesses should coordinate closely with credit institutions to access capital sources to serve their production and business activities.

According to the department, in the first seven months of this year, total retail revenue of goods and services rose about 22% year on year. Meanwhile, the index of industrial production (IIP) of the city increased 7.2% over the same period last year, and the export revenue was estimated at 9.84 billion USD, up 17.2% year on year. In the January-July period, the consumer price index (CPI) of the city increased 3.38% year on year.

According to the Hanoi Industrial and Export Processing Zones Authority (HIZA), the capital city is now home to 10 operating IPs, covering a total area of over 1,347 ha. Nine of them have an occupancy rate of nearly 100%.

Despite complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city's IPs and EPZs lured nearly 40.7 million USD invested in seven new projects and an additional 198 million USD poured into 23 existing projects in 2021.

Industrial parks in Hanoi had attracted 303 foreign direct investment projects worth nearly 6.1 billion USD and 399 domestic projects with total registered capital of almost 18 trillion VND (788 million USD) by the beginning of December last year.

At the conference, participants noted that the disbursement of capital supporting the socio-economic recovery and development programme has remained slow, while businesses’ access to credit policies and other policies has been modest.

HAMI Vice Chairman Luu Hai Minh said that without assistance from banks, production businesses will face many difficulties.

He said that HAMI members hope to receive preferential loans from banks to speed up the renovation and application of technological advances.

Agreeing with Minh, Nguyen Van, from the Hanoi Association of Support Industries, said that after two years of being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, technology firms are in need of financial support from banks with long-term loans at low interest rates to boost production activities.

Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director of the Hanoi Branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, affirmed that the banking sector and business community share symbiotic relations, and the banking sector has exerted efforts to support businesses through stable interest rates and rein in inflation at the same time.

Tuan called on banks to give best support to enterprises and expressed his hope that the city's Department of Industry and Trade and HANIF will work more closely together to hold more such conferences to give chances for businesses and banks to meet and explore each other’s demand, thus seeking best solutions to deal with difficulties facing companies, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the capital city.

Within the conference’s framework, the city's Department of Industry and Trade and HANIF signed a cooperation agreement on information exchange. HANIF, commercial banks and businesses also inked a deal on collaboration in supporting businesses to access soft loans.

Hanoi hosts agro promotion weekend The Hanoi Centre for Investment, Trade, and Tourism Promotion (HPA) ran an event to promote agro products from July 22 to 24, aiming to raise brand awareness and boost consumption.

Hanoi and Vientiane seek to strengthen cooperation Businesses and officials from Hanoi and Vientiane gathered at a conference on August 10 to discuss promoting bilateral trade, investment, and tourism activities in the future.