|
ADB loan to boost financing for SMEs
A US$25 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) will help Viet Nam's small - and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) gain access to badly needed credit, including lease finance, the bank said yesterday.
The agreement for the six-year loan was signed on Sunday by the two parties at ADB's 42nd annual meeting in Bali.
SMEs have been at the heart of Viet Nam's economic success in recent years, generating over 60 per cent of the country's gross domestic product and employing 90 per cent of its workforce.
However, a lack of documented credit information makes it hard for them to tap funds from the country's banks and expand, an ADB press release said.
Sacombank and its leasing unit, Sacombank Leasing Company, will use the ADB funds to provide SMEs with both regular term credit and term lease credit for maturities of 3-5 years.
By supporting SMEs, the loan will also help create jobs in urban areas, particularly for semi-skilled workers.
"SMEs have recovered-slightly after last year's global economic downturn and we expect their demand for capital to jump in the third quarter of 2009," said Sacombank Chairman Dang Van Thanh.
It is ADB's first loan to support Viet Nam's leasing sector and should be a model for other international lenders and donors to provide similar financing.
"Leasing allows enterprises to upgrade machinery and modernize production facilities without sacrificing working capital that is needed for more immediate purposes," said Philip Erquiaga, director general of the Private Sector Operations Department at ADB.
He said the project highlights the benefit of leasing at a time of global recession when investment capital is scarce.
Founded in 1991, Sacombank now has 248 transaction centres nationwide, one representative office in China and one branch in Laos. Its next overseas branch, in Cambodia, is expected to open next month.
vietnamnet, vietnamplus
|
