HANOI: The deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has urged credit institutions to evaluate the impacts of Typhoon Yagi and classify affected customers eligible for support programmes.

At a meeting last week Wednesday to discuss solutions to support businesses and people affected by the storm, Dao Minh Tu said property damage is estimated to amount to more than 50 trillion dong or about US$2.03bil and forecast to cause a drop of 0.15 percentage point to gross domestic product expansion in 2024 from a growth scenario of 6.8% to 7%.

Figures from credit institutions and branches of foreign banks in affected areas as of last Tuesday, showed that around 73,000 customers were affected with a total outstanding loans of 94 trillion dong. The numbers are expected to increase as banks continue to update their information.

Huge outstanding loans are a big problem for the banking industry, Tu said.

If there is no appropriate and timely policy, not only customers but also the banking system would fall into difficulties, he added.

Hoang Minh Ngoc, deputy director-general of Agribank said it has about 12,600 customers affected as of Sept 16, with a total outstanding loans of 25 trillion dong. Sectors that were seriously affected were fisheries, farming and animal husbandry.

Agribank has lowered interest rates by 0.502% a year for affected customers depending on the damage levels, he said.

The bank is also waiving overdue and late payment fees to the end of this year.

At Vietcombank, the outstanding loans affected by the storm are estimated to total 105 trillion dong, or 7% of the bank’s total outstanding loans. Of the figure, an estimated sum of 12.9 trillion dong was seriously affected.

Vietcombank has provided an interest rate cut of 0.5% per year on existing and new loans to customers directly affected by the storm, Nguyen Viet Cuong, deputy-director of Vietcombank said.

Around 130 customers would benefit from the support with a total value of around 22 trillion dong.

Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam plans to cut interest rates for new loans for recovering production and business by around 1% and 0.5% for existing loans. 

 - ANN