Hanoi (VNA)ꦜ – Credit growth for agriculture and rural development in Vietnam rose 5.31% in the first half of 2025 compared to the end of 2024, accounting for 23.16% of the country’s total outstanding loans.

The strong credit flow has helped ease the capital shortage long faced by the agricultural sector and rural communities. At a recent press briefing held by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to review the banking sector’s performance in the first half of 2025 and set out tasks for the remaining months of the year, Nguyen Xuan Bac, Deputy Director of the SBV’s Credit Department for Economic Sectors, said that overall credit growth by the end of June had reached 9.9%, with key sectors including agriculture and rural development posting robust gains. Although agriculture currently contributes only about 11–14% of Vietnam’s GDP, it remains the backbone of employment and livelihoods, especially in rural areas. Given the economy’s strong dependence on bank credit, the growth in loans to the agricultural sector reflects considerable effort from the entire banking system. As the leading bank in agricultural and rural lending, Agribank reported mobilised capital of over 2.1 quadrillion VND ( 80.3 billion USD) in the first six months, up 6.4% from the start of the year, the highest level since 2021. Of this, loans to the economy totaled more than 1.85 quadrillion VND, up 7.6% year-on-year. Notably, loans to agriculture and rural areas alone surpassed 1.13 quadrillion VND, making up over 61% of Agribank’s total credit, said the bank’s General Director Pham Toan Vuong. Similarly, HDBank reported that over 22% of its outstanding loans were directed to agriculture and rural development, with more than half of its borrowers based in rural and tier-2 urban areas. In June, HDBank and BIDV signed a 500-billion-VND sub-loan agreement using World Bank funding under the Rural Finance and Sustainable Agriculture Transformation (VnSAT) projects. Tran Hoai Nam, Standing Deputy CEO of HDBank, emphasised that the bank views agricultural credit as part of its long-term sustainable development strategy, supporting the modernisation and green transformation of Vietnam’s agriculture. In a significant policy shift, the Government issued Decree No. 156/2025/ND-CP on June 16 to expand access to unsecured loans for rural borrowers. The decree raised lending caps for individuals and households to 300 million VND, and up to 5 billion VND for cooperatives and cooperative alliances. It also streamlined administrative procedures and allowed for greater debt restructuring flexibility. These changes, along with the SBV’s directive to expand credit for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries to over 100 trillion VND, are expected to significantly increase funding opportunities for rural enterprises and farming households. Hoang Van Long, Deputy Director of Bien Quynh Seafood Company in Nghe An province, said that to grow and operate professionally, businesses need the solid backing of banks./.