Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) should developpolicies for commercial banks, helping them disburse capital mobilisedfrom organisations and people, said economic expert Nguyen Minh Phong.

Phong made the statement as commercial banks face an imbalancebetween mobilised capital and loans.

According to a SBV report, Vietnam’s banking system has mobilised nearly 417.3trillion VND in the January-August period. Of the sum, the total amount ofmoney deposited by people was more than 246 trillion VND, and the amount ofdeposits from economic organisations was nearly 171.3 trillion VND.

The report showed that the banking system has just disbursed 346.6 trillion VND,equivalent to 1.4 trillion VND per day – the lowest growth rate inthe past five years. The direct reason was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,which has hut businesses, forcing them to curtail production or close down.

The banks currently have an excess of liquidity, so the mobilised money isincreasing, rising above the loan amount.

Insiders said that the phenomenon of idle money flowing into banks despitelow-interest rates was partly due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.Some other investment channels, such as gold, securities, real estate, andforeign currencies are no longer attractive.

There are many enterprises that are "capital hungry" – in need of capital for investment,production and business – howeverit is difficult to access loans from banks due to strict procedures andregulations.

The central bank's policy is to not lend carelessly. All lending criteria mustbe very cautious because many businesses are currently weak andhave high economic risks. Therefore, banks must consider carefully beforelending money to avoid bad debts.

According to Phong, this is a tough problem to solve because it is relatedto conflicts of interest. If for common interest, the banks try to disburse asmuch as possible, paying attention to key and large-scale areas. But on thecontrary, if lending is "easy", it will affect the benefits ofthe banks, especially debt collection as well as the bank's profit.

Phong said that this problem requires direction from the SBV.

“At present, banks still have to continue seeking good customers and safelending opportunities as well as new loan opportunities associated withpost-COVID-19 economic development. On the other hand, they need a flexiblelending policy, consistent with the current situation,” Phong said.

He said for businesses facing many difficulties but still needing money, thecentral bank needs to adjust policies in accordance with the current situationso that commercial banks can lend with peace of mind.

“For example, the SBV can restructure public debt, reduce the reserve level orother policies to create incentives and cut costs for commercial banks,” Phongsaid./.