As one of the households that borrowed money from the bank and suffered losses due to storm No. 3, Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy, a fish farmer in Quang Ninh, said that all 600 fish cages her family raised in Cam Pha, each cage holding 500 fish, each weighing about 3kg, were destroyed by the storm, leaving no trace.

Ms. Thuy's family still has about 20 fish cages in Quang Yen district, but she is not sure if the fish are still alive as the water level continues to rise.

“I have been doing this for many years, doing little by little and then gradually getting bigger, totaling about 12 billion VND, but now I have nothing left. I borrowed 4 billion VND from the bank, and have paid back 500 million VND, but now the month, the quarter, the time to pay the debt has come and I have no money to pay or capital to reproduce. If I could get some capital support, I would fix it, build more rafts, and release baby fish in time to rebuild,” Ms. Thuy said.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien - Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Quang Ninh Branch, said that by the end of September 10, a total of 11,058 customers in Quang Ninh province, with a total outstanding debt of VND 10,654 billion, were severely affected by the consequences of storm No. 3, accounting for 5.6% of the total outstanding debt of the whole province; notably, the heavy damage was caused to some customers whose aquaculture rafts were swept away by the storm waves.

In Hai Phong, a total of 890 customers, with a total outstanding debt of VND15,686 billion, were affected after the storm.

At the meeting between Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu and leaders of the State Bank branches in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong on the morning of September 11, representatives of the banks said they were quickly implementing many solutions to support customers facing difficulties after the storm.

VietinBank Deputy General Director, Mr. Le Duy Hai shared that at VietinBank alone, preliminary statistics show that about 195 corporate customers were affected by storm No. 3, with outstanding debt of about 18,000 billion VND.

“The bank will assess the overall damage to customers to have appropriate support measures. For customers who have purchased insurance from the bank, VietinBank will quickly speed up the compensation process,” said Mr. Le Duy Hai.

According to Mr. Le Trung Thanh, Deputy General Director of BIDV, updating information to assess the level of damage to customers in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong is considered by the bank to be an urgent task that needs to be prioritized. BIDV will evaluate each customer case to have a plan to restructure debt, extend debt, reduce interest, etc.

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Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu (middle) and the SBV delegation directly went to the scene to survey the damage caused by storm No. 3. Photo: SBV.

At Agribank, Deputy General Director Doan Ngoc Luu informed that the bank has directed ABIC Insurance Company to urgently carry out procedures to support and compensate customers; at the same time, set up working groups to assess the overall level of damage to loan customers, expected affected outstanding debt, debt repayment ability, etc.

From there, implement measures, restructure outstanding loans, affected outstanding loans, reduce interest rates, make new loans, urgently support customers to restore and stabilize business operations.

According to Mr. Hien, the customers who borrowed capital in Quang Ninh suffered losses by specific sectors and fields as follows: the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector has 6,270 customers; outstanding loans of VND 1,463 billion; the industry - construction sector has 533 customers, outstanding loans of VND 5,243 billion; the trade and service sector has 4,255 customers, outstanding loans of VND 3,948 billion.

Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu assessed that many customers and businesses suffered losses without the ability to repay debts and almost lost all their assets, with no source of compensation. This is a major problem for all levels and sectors, especially the banking sector.

“There needs to be timely and appropriate policies to ensure immediate and long-term needs are met, contributing to stabilizing life and overcoming the consequences of the storm,” the Deputy Governor directed.

Previously, the State Bank of Vietnam issued a document requesting commercial banks to focus on providing immediate support to businesses, people and borrowers. At the same time, temporarily deferring, postponing and reducing interest on debts that have come due, and debts that are about to come due will be handled more positively for customers and borrowers.

The Deputy Governor also noted that immediately after the storm, commercial banks need to provide consumer loans so that people have funds to buy necessary items and equipment for life.