The State Bank continues to manage credit growth.

During the question and answer session of National Assembly deputies on the implementation of a number of resolutions of the 14th National Assembly, on the morning of November 6, many National Assembly deputies asked questions to State Bank Governor Nguyen Thi Hong regarding the social housing support package; credit growth; roadmap to eliminate the management and allocation of credit growth targets for each credit institution; solutions to prevent black credit...

Actively disbursing the 120 trillion VND package

Believing that the disbursement rate of the social housing support package is currently very low, delegate Tran Thi Thanh Huong ( An Giang ) requested the Governor of the State Bank to clarify the difficulties, obstacles and solutions to speed up the disbursement progress of the social housing development credit package as well as non-cash payments in the coming time.

Regarding the 120 trillion VND loan package to support social housing, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that this is a credit package with preferential interest rates from financial resources of participating banks.

National Assembly delegate of An Giang province Tran Thi Thanh Huong asks questions. Photo: An Dang/VNA

After the Government's Resolution, the State Bank issued a document guiding credit institutions to implement; at the same time, it sent a document to the People's Committees of interested provinces/cities to develop and announce projects eligible for loans under this credit package, according to the guidance of the Ministry of Construction . The State Bank requested banks to issue internal procedures for implementation. Recently, 18/63 provincial People's Committees announced the list of projects participating in the program with 53 projects, total loan demand of 27,000 billion VND. To date, 105 billion VND has been disbursed for 3 projects in 3 provinces/cities.

The Governor of the State Bank said that the disbursement is still limited because the housing supply of this program is limited. The demand for housing is very large, but the need to borrow to buy a house is an issue that people consider carefully. Besides, the conditions for enjoying the loan package still have some inappropriate points such as income not subject to personal income tax, regulations on not having a house... On the other hand, the program is implemented for 10 years, the disbursement is over a long period of time, so the disbursement amount is still low.

Therefore, the Governor of the State Bank will coordinate with other ministries and branches to strengthen information and propaganda work so that people can clearly understand; at the same time, he hopes that the People's Committees of provinces and cities will soon announce the list of projects eligible for loans.

Debate with the Governor of the State Bank on the preferential loan package for social housing purchase, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) said: "The Governor's answer is correct but not enough". To effectively implement, the delegate said that it is necessary to have the participation of not only the banking sector but also the Ministry of Construction, localities, trade unions, especially the workers themselves.

Hanoi National Assembly delegate Nguyen Anh Tri debates. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

"We must grasp the needs and requirements regarding quantity, area, location, price, quality... From there, we can plan implementation, construction, and supply based on the needs and requirements of workers to successfully implement it," said delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, hoping that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers will pay attention and direct in order to achieve consensus and unity, thereby ensuring the project is implemented effectively.

Expressing strong agreement with the opinion of delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that the program aiming for 1 million apartments within 10 years is a humane program and to implement this program requires large financial resources.

In the coming time, the State Bank will continue to direct credit institutions to pay attention to implementing and actively disbursing the VND120 trillion package and expanding it to other joint stock commercial banks. With more commercial banks participating in the coming time, the capital will be larger.

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies will continue to direct, together with members of the Board of Directors who are representatives of other ministries and branches, to deploy through this channel; at the same time, actively coordinate with ministries, branches, localities, and trade unions to remove difficulties and obstacles, achieving the program's goals.

Responding to questions about cashless payments, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that recently, the State Bank has implemented many specific solutions such as reviewing the legal framework to amend, supplement, improve, and facilitate cashless payments. Up to now, many activities have been carried out through digital channels, applying technology, ensuring the safety of payment activities such as customer authentication, payment via QR-code, etc.

In the past 9 months, non-cash payment indicators have grown strongly. The rate of non-cash payment transactions increased by 49% in quantity, transactions via the internet increased by 60.3%, via mobile phones increased by 60.8%, via QR-code increased by 105%... The decrease in ATM transactions shows that the trend of non-cash payments is increasing. In September 2023, the ratio of cash payments to total payments decreased by 9.17% (compared to 11.73% compared to the end of 2020), showing that the results of non-cash payments have been significant.

However, there is still a fear of risks when approaching new technology in payment due to the habit of using cash, the trend of high-tech crime... In the coming time, the State Bank will continue to review documents and coordinate with agencies to perfect the legal corridor, have preventive solutions to secure information, ensure security and safety for customers, increase communication information so that people have more information, ensuring safety in non-cash payments.

Improve credit conditions

Questioning the Governor of the State Bank on credit management tasks at the 3rd Session of the 15th National Assembly, delegate Tran Thi Van (Bac Ninh) expressed interest in the solutions proposed by the Governor to achieve annual credit targets. However, according to the Government's report at the opening session of the 6th Session, credit growth in the first 9 months of this year only reached 5.91%.

National Assembly delegate of Bac Ninh province Tran Thi Van asks questions. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Delegates asked the Governor of the State Bank to clarify the causes and solutions to help credit growth reach the set target of 14%, while there are only 2 months left until the end of 2023.

According to Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, the main reason for low credit growth is the decrease in credit demand due to a decrease in business orders; people and business households facing many difficulties after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic...

Regarding credit supply, the State Bank has operated in the direction of creating the most favorable conditions for credit institutions. In recent times, the State Bank has implemented many solutions, directed credit institutions to review loan procedures to shorten the time, reduce procedures to better support people; at the same time, made a number of recommendations to relevant ministries and branches to implement solutions to improve credit conditions, especially for small and medium enterprises.

Responding to questions from delegates about the roadmap to eliminate the management and allocation of credit growth targets for each credit institution, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that this is one of the management solutions of the State Bank, combined with other policy tools.

In fact, the State Bank operates closely following the direction of Resolution 62/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly and the direction of the Government; sets out credit growth orientations at the beginning of the year, and allocates based on the most fundamental basis of ranking credit institutions according to Circular 52/2018/TT-NHNN (regulations on ranking credit institutions and foreign bank branches). The Circular clearly states quantitative and qualitative criteria to reflect credit institutions with healthy operations and the ability to expand credit. The State Bank also organizes seminars and meetings with experts and National Assembly deputies interested in how to manage this credit growth. From there, it is agreed that at this time, credit growth management cannot be abandoned, because the capital needs of the economy still depend heavily on credit.

“If we remove this target, it could cause Vietnam’s credit balance to GDP to be at a high level. The World Bank has warned about this issue. Therefore, the State Bank will continue to implement this policy. When the time is right, especially when other segments of the financial market such as corporate bonds can meet the intermediary needs of businesses, the possibility of removing this target will be more feasible,” the Governor said.

Responding to questions from National Assembly deputies about solutions to prevent black credit, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that the issue of black credit is of great concern to the Party, State, National Assembly and Government. In recent times, the Ministry of Public Security together with ministries and branches, including the State Bank, have also drastically implemented many solutions.

Specifically, the Prime Minister issued Directive 12/CT-TTg on strengthening the prevention and fight against crimes and law violations related to "black credit" activities and Official Dispatch 766/CD-TTg on strengthening solutions to prevent, stop and handle "black credit" activities. The State Bank has issued an action plan, including continuing to improve the legal framework to facilitate people's access to credit from official channels.

With the implementation of the National Population Database of the Ministry of Public Security, the State Bank has coordinated and signed with the Ministry of Public Security to promote credit institutions to participate and connect to this data system to be able to move towards unsecured lending for small retail loans, thereby increasing access to credit and limiting black credit.

Emphasizing the need for all levels and sectors to join hands to reduce this problem, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that People's Committees at all levels and socio-political organizations should grasp information and increase propaganda so that people in need of capital can access official channels, limiting the need for legitimate loans to have access to black credit...

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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