Banks lukewarm over new stimulus package

Banks lukewarm over new stimulus package By Thuy Trieu – The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Banks have reacted negatively to the second stimulus program unveiled last Friday by the Government although the package is seen as a good prescription to help local manufacturers and traders weather the tough times. In a meeting between the central bank and commercial banks in HCMC on October 24, Duong Thu Huong, general secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association, said that she had made separated interviews with ten banks about the subsidized lending program and all of them were lukewarm to the package. Bankers at the meeting said that while the Government’s stimulus program would be beneficial for the economy, they really did not want to carry out the program via banks any more, according to Huong. All banks recognized the efficiency of the first stimulus package that helped them find more outlets for their capital, but they said the program also made banks’ operating cost increase. Lenders had to set up an internal inspecting team mainly to keep a close watch over the usage of subsidized capital, and had to spent more money and manpower to tune up their information technology systems to respond to the large-scale lending program. Those difficulties faced by banks were admitted by the Governor at the meeting. However, the biggest concern to lenders when continuing the subsidized lending program is that they do not have enough capital to give loans. A deputy general director of a joint-stock bank…