HANOI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's economy is facing headwinds stemming from the global economic slowdown and challenging financial and monetary conditions, prompting it to take comprehensive measures to promote economic growth, the Vietnam News quoted experts as saying on Wednesday.
To achieve the GDP growth target, Vietnam needs to tackle the economy's internal problems by measures such as speeding up public investment disbursement, stimulating demand, and improving the business climate to attract investment, the newspaper reported, citing Vo Tri Thanh, director of the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy.
Noting that interest rate cut was not a one-size-fits-all solution to promote economic growth, Thanh urged comprehensive measures, including expanding the market for enterprises and offering new business opportunities.
According to Nguyen Van Than, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), about 25 percent of the association's member companies were facing difficulties in accessing credit.
Noting that lowering rates was just a prerequisite to increase the capital absorptive capacity of enterprises, Than said enterprises need to improve their competitiveness, corporate governance capacity, and financial transparency to be able to access credit.
Currently, lending rates in Vietnam were 0.5 to 2 percent, which is lower than the end of 2022, with short-term rates for production and business loans at around 5 to 9 percent per year and long-term rates at around 8.5 to 11 percent per year, the newspaper reported. ■
