Removing credit bottlenecks for businesses

In the context of the economy accelerating towards the target of double-digit growth, efforts to unblock credit flows have become a key factor helping businesses accelerate investment in production and business, opening up new growth space.

Tien Vien Food Joint Stock Company (Chuong My district, Hanoi city) expands production and business from credit capital from Agribank.

It is a fact that while the banking system is ready with credit resources, many businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, are still facing difficulties. small and medium enterprises (SMEs) still have difficulty accessing this source of capital.

Create financial leverage

In the current financial structure of Vietnamese enterprises, bank credit still accounts for the majority of enterprises, especially in the manufacturing sector. This credit flow is not only a means of operating production but also a vital factor in the strategy of expanding investment, accessing new markets, and improving the competitiveness of enterprises.

Miza Nghi Son Company Limited is an enterprise operating in the field of paper recycling to produce high-quality packaging and packaging for domestic and foreign packaging factories. The company started production in August 2021, by 2024 its revenue reached VND 2,230 billion, creating jobs for nearly 200 workers in the area and a source of input materials in districts across the province. Thanh Hoa with the average monthly salary of workers reaching over 10 million VND/person. According to Mr. Le Van Hiep - General Director of the Company, during the investment and implementation of the project in Thanh Hoa province, the enterprise has always received support from credit institutions for capital to build factories, purchase equipment and input materials. Currently, the total outstanding debt of Miza Nghi Son at credit institutions is approximately 1,500 billion VND.

“Especially, during the difficult period after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the economy had not yet recovered and manufacturing enterprises like us faced great pressure on raw material costs as well as the consumption market, Agribank Nam Thanh Hoa promptly implemented effective support solutions. Preferential credit programs were flexibly applied, including waiving and reducing money transfer fees, providing loans with low interest rates, and many other practical policies that helped the company maintain production activities, especially in investment and business cooperation with suppliers of recycled paper materials in the province,” said Mr. Le Van Hiep.

Similarly, Mr. Le Van Phuong - General Director of Lam Son Sugar Company shared that bank credit is not only a financial lever to help businesses maintain operations, but also a key factor to expand scale, invest in technology, and improve competitiveness. "In the current context, the sugar industry is facing many challenges, from price fluctuations, climate change to increasing production costs, so the role of the banking system in providing financial support to businesses and farmers is very important," Mr. Le Van Phuong affirmed.

According to Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Pham Quang Dung, although according to the rules of previous years, credit often decreased in the first months of the year due to the impact of the Lunar New Year, growth in early 2025 has shown signs of improvement compared to the same period in 2024. Specifically, by the end of March, outstanding credit balance of the economy reached 16 million billion VND, up 2.5% compared to the end of 2024, up 17.65% compared to the same period in 2024 (while in the same period in 2024 it only grew about 0.26%).

But despite such positive signs, in the context of many challenges, to achieve the national credit growth target of 16% in 2025 (outstanding loans increased by VND 2.5 million billion compared to 2024) contributing to achieving the national economic growth target of at least 8% requires the entire banking industry to resolutely implement many solutions, along with cooperation from customers, businesses and support from the entire political system.

Need a policy push

According to statistics, of the more than 900,000 enterprises operating in the economy, nearly 98% of them are small and medium-sized. Despite such a high proportion, the SME sector only has a total capital of VND 16.6 million billion, accounting for less than 30% of the total capital for production and business activities of the entire enterprise sector. According to data from the State Bank of Vietnam as of the end of 2024, outstanding credit for SMEs reached about VND 2.74 million billion, an increase of 10.7% compared to the end of 2023, accounting for 17.6% of the total outstanding debt of the economy, with 208,992 enterprises with outstanding loans. Despite the growth, this figure is still not enough to meet the capital needs of SMEs. And even though interest rates have decreased and system liquidity is abundant, many businesses have not yet had access to production capital. That reality shows that the market needs a more substantial, synchronous and drastic policy "push" from the operator to effectively activate credit flow.

Chairwoman of Ha Nam Food Joint Stock Company Tran Thi Lan acknowledged that in order to provide maximum support for businesses to develop their business, banks always create favorable conditions, from lowering interest rates during difficult times to quick loan procedures. However, in the current context, banks need to continue to maintain preferential credit packages with interest rates as well as loan terms. Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Van Phuong also recommended that the State Bank and commercial banks support preferential loans for farmers and businesses in the supply chain, through implementing more preferential credit packages and simplifying loan procedures. In particular, Mr. Phuong emphasized that collateral is still a big problem for businesses, so banks need to expand the form of mortgage by product consumption contracts between businesses and farmers to partly remove this bottleneck.

In reality, the current bottleneck in capital flow lies in the credit approach that is still heavily dependent on collateral, lacking a credit valuation model based on cash flow and digital records of the business. Businesses with development potential, export contracts, stable production chains, etc. but without large assets are still excluded from the "capital game".

As a business with typical projects with a total investment of nearly 1,800 billion VND, of which loan capital is 1,000 billion VND, accounting for 55% and all of these projects have been implemented, put into operation with high efficiency, bringing good revenue and cash flow, but General Director of CNC Technology Solutions Joint Stock Company (under CNCTECH Group) Dinh Thi Thu Ha said that the business still faces a number of problems related to access to capital, including difficulties due to lack of collateral. Therefore, Ms. Ha recommended that the State Bank consider implementing more flexible credit guarantee mechanisms, including guarantees for businesses with potential production and business models but do not have enough collateral.

In addition to the resolution from banks, many opinions say that when businesses build a transparent accounting, management and financial reporting system, it will help banks correctly assess the capacity of the business, thereby creating favorable conditions for the loan approval process. According to ASCO Auditing Company Chairman Nguyen Thanh Khiet, businesses need to improve their management capacity, financial capacity and information transparency, apply technology and AI in accounting and financial management, etc.

For businesses to develop, not only credit capital but also long-term investment capital is needed, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung - former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) believes that the Government needs to open up a more diverse investment capital market, develop a capital market with various types of funds, and strongly develop a credit guarantee fund system to reduce risks for banks and support businesses without collateral. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the guarantee process to ensure transparency and efficiency, helping businesses save time and costs when accessing capital.

Although it is difficult to access to credit capital, but with the efforts of enterprises, the timely companionship and support from banks, along with the right support policies of the State, it is hoped that these obstacles will gradually be resolved. In the immediate future, to create a favorable environment for business development, each party involved needs to make adjustments, improvements and continuous innovations. Close cooperation to jointly resolve difficulties between parties will be the "key" to open the door to abundant credit capital, helping businesses break through in the new era.

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