Production stimulus moves take effect

The Government conducted tax breaks and exemption; continued to reduce lending interest rate by around 3-4% against December, 2012; provided preferential credits for agriculture, rural areas, small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), auxiliary industry, export production and high-tech applications. 

A series of solutions were introduced by the Government to accelerate production of key industries such as steel, mechanics, garments and textiles and mining, and consumption of their products.  

Meanwhile ministries, agencies and localities launched trade promotion activities; speed up the “Buy Vietnamese goods” campaign and bring goods to rural and remote areas.

The Government has also implemented the 2013 National Trade Promotion Program to seek more export markets. In the January-May period, exports stayed at around US$50 billion, up 15.1% against the same period last year while imports were on the rise.

Plus, the Government gave priority to social housing development. So far, 58 projects were proposed to construct 33,000 social apartments destined for low-income earners.

Especially, the preferential credit package worth VND30,000 billion (US$1.5 billion) was disbursed,  bringing initial positive effects on the domestic estate market.

So far, nine badly-performing commercial banks were handled properly so that their payment capacity was considerably improved and depositors’ rights were guaranteed. 

The equitization process of commercial banks was fundamentally finalized, expecting to help raise charter capital for them.

As of April, 2013, the rate of non-performing loans stood at 4.67%, lower than 7.8% of late 2012. /.

By Kim Loan