At its regular November meeting held on December 1, the government asked that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) work with localities to thoroughly review the implementation of the 2 per cent interest rate support package.

The special program was introduced in May, providing interest rate support on loans to businesses and targeting companies, cooperatives, and business households.

The support is 2 per cent per annum, calculated on the loan balance. The support period is from the date of loan disbursement to the time when the customer pays off the principal and/or interest as agreed between the commercial bank and the customer, but no later than December 31, 2023.

However, support had totaled just VND13 billion ($551,000) as of the end of August, out of VND16 trillion ($678 million) allocated for this year from the State budget.

The support program is part of the national economic recovery master program in 2022-2023.

The SBV must quickly revise and supplement under their own authority or propose to a higher authority revisions and supplements to regulations that are inappropriate, to help speed up disbursement of the package.

The government has held numerous meetings with the central bank and ministries and sectors in regard to the implementation of the support package.