HANOI, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has lifted caps on credit growth for some banks to provide more loans to the economy as firms need more capital to boost production at the end of the year, local media reported on Friday.
It was projected that over 400 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly 16.2 billion U.S. dollars) of loans would add to the economy toward the year-end thanks to the expansionary stance, the local newspaper Vietnam News reported.
The move marked the first time that the SBV has loosened its credit limits on a whole bunch of banks simultaneously.
Fifteen commercial banks were given approval to expand their credit growth limits by between 1 to 4 percentage points.
Sacombank had its cap raised by 4 percentage points, the largest one, followed by Agribank (3.5 percentage points), Military Bank (3.2 percentage points) and Saigon-Hanoi Bank (3.2 percentage points).
The SBV announced in early September five beneficiaries to be prioritised for the supportive policy, which comprise the agriculture sector, export sector, supporting industries, high-tech industries, and small and medium-sized firms.
At a recent meeting with commercial banks, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged the banking system to meet the capital demand of the economy and control capital flows into high-risk sectors.
By late September, total credit to Vietnam's economy topped 11.5 quadrillion Vietnamese dong (465.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.8 percent year-on-year.
