Preferential interest rate credit in Mekong Delta provinces

On March 21, in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province, the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13 Branch, held a Conference on Promoting Bank Credit to Contribute to Economic Growth in the Provinces of Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh. Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong and representatives of the People's Committees of the above localities attended and co-chaired the Conference.

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong directed credit institutions to allocate credit resources to priority areas, supporting local economic development - Photo: Duc Khanh

Join hands to develop local economy

Mr. Pham Minh Tu - Acting Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13 Branch, said that up to now, there are 96 credit institutions operating in the Region with a network of 592 transaction offices. As of February 2025, the total outstanding loans of credit institutions in the Region reached about VND 369,000 billion, an increase of 1.4% compared to the end of 2024. This increase is significantly higher than the credit growth rate of the entire Mekong Delta region (0.53%) and the whole country (0.8%).

Mr. Tu said that recently, credit in the provinces in the region has focused heavily on a number of preferential interest rate credit programs under the direction of the Government and the State Bank. Accordingly, outstanding loans for 5 priority sectors in the region by the end of February 2025 reached about VND 274,500 billion, accounting for 75.4% of the total outstanding loans in the region.

In 2024 alone, the system of credit institutions in the region organized nearly 10 conferences connecting banks and businesses. At these conferences, the banking industry coordinated and resolved capital difficulties for thousands of customers in many industries. The accumulated outstanding loans (with interest rate support) through the connection rounds connecting banks and businesses in the region reached about 14,800 billion VND.

Representatives of business leaders and cooperatives in the tourism, agricultural and aquatic product processing and export industries in Tien Giang and Long An provinces highly appreciated the proactive cooperation of credit institutions in the process of providing capital, supporting loan interest rates for seasonal raw material purchases and supporting debt repayment extensions during times when businesses are facing difficulties due to the pandemic and disrupted cash flow.

“The connecting conference organized by banks with specific topics for each industry has helped businesses access loans and resolve specific financial difficulties of each industry and field during difficult and volatile market times,” said a representative of the Tien Giang Province Tourism Business Association.

Regarding the banking sector, Mr. Do Thanh Son - Deputy General Director of VietinBank said that recently, according to the records of the bank's 13 regional branches, lending activities have focused mainly on retail lending and lending to business households. Therefore, the effectiveness of interest rate support for customers is very practical, helping tens of thousands of economic models and small businesses access cheap capital for production and business. In the coming time, Mr. Son said that VietinBank will continue to deploy a series of credit packages with partial interest rate support for many groups of businesses and industries.

Branches in Region 13 have also set a double-digit credit growth target to support localities in achieving their macroeconomic growth targets. Therefore, VietinBank and other commercial banks request that departments, branches and localities in Region 13 continue to accompany and join hands to support people and businesses in developing production and business. In addition, localities continue to attract foreign investment capital, promote the progress of key programs and projects so that commercial banks can participate in financing and developing modern banking and financial products and services.

Monetary policy will closely follow macroeconomic developments.

Speaking at the conference, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong highly appreciated the efforts of the State Bank branches and nearly 100 credit institutions in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces in implementing preferential credit policies and preferential interest rate loan packages for key industries in the Mekong Delta region such as rice, seafood, agricultural product processing and export, etc.

The Governor requested that the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13, continue to promote these positive results, closely follow the State Bank's monetary policy and the economic growth targets of the provinces to direct credit institutions to proactively increase credit growth, focus on solutions to apply technology, reduce costs to strive to further reduce lending interest rates, and support customers.

Regarding the direction of monetary policy management, the Governor said that the State Bank will continue to operate flexibly, closely following macroeconomic developments and inflation to manage interest rates, exchange rates, etc. The banking industry will continue to meet the maximum capital demand for production and business sectors, import and export, priority sectors and strengths of each region and area.

According to the recommendations of some localities and commercial banks, in the coming time, the State Bank will also direct the banking system to prioritize and encourage increased lending to the private enterprise sector, increase the proportion of loans to small and medium enterprises to work with localities to support businesses in removing difficulties and creating motivation to complete economic growth targets in 2025.

Mr. Pham Minh Tu - assigned as Acting Director of State Bank Branch Region 13 - Photo: Duc Khanh

Announcement of Decision to establish State Bank of Region 13

On March 21, Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Thi Hong handed over decisions on transfer and appointment to the position of Deputy Director of the State Bank Branch Region 13 to a number of leaders of the State Bank branches in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh.

The ceremony to announce the Decision to establish the State Bank of Vietnam, Branch Region 13 was held in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province. The Department of Organization and Personnel - State Bank announced Decision No. 313/QD-NHNN of the Governor of the State Bank on the establishment of the State Bank of Vietnam, Branch Region 13 on the basis of merging the State Bank branches in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces.

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong presented the Decision on transfer and appointment to the position of Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13 Branch to Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dam, Le Van Hai, Le Cong Thanh and Le Thi My Hien.

The Department of Organization and Personnel has announced the Decisions on appointment to the positions of Head and Deputy Head of Department for a number of officials of the State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13 Branch.

According to Decision No. 313/QD-NHNN of the State Bank of Vietnam, State Bank Branch Region 13 was established on the basis of merging State Bank branches in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces and headquartered in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province.

The State Bank of Vietnam, Region 13 Branch, has the function of advising the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam in performing state management of currency, banking and foreign exchange activities in the above localities and performing a number of Central Bank operations under the authorization of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.