State Bank of Vietnam secures VND 500 trillion commitments from 21 banks for preferential infrastructure and digital technology lending programme

The State Bank of Vietnam convened an implementation meeting for a VND 500 trillion preferential credit programme to provide long-term loans to businesses investing in infrastructure and digital technology, and confirmed that 21 commercial banks have registered commitments covering the full programme size. Commercial banks broadly supported an interest-rate reduction of 1.5 percentage points for loans under the programme, although some sought a different level. Implementation issues include missing or inconsistent project lists from ministries and the lack of quantified credit demand for priority projects through 2030, complicating the allocation of registered funding. The intended lending scope covers enterprises financing nationally important projects in strategic infrastructure such as transport and power based on lists provided by the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, while strategic technology lending would be limited to projects producing items on the national list of strategic technologies and products and requires confirmation from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Banks also highlighted funding and policy constraints for long-gestation infrastructure and public–private partnership projects, including maturity-mismatch challenges, and proposed measures such as support on risk provisioning, excluding some programme loans from credit growth limits, and linking the programme to the National Innovation Fund for interest support, technology appraisal costs or credit guarantees. The State Bank of Vietnam will consolidate inputs for a report to the Government and assigned relevant units to develop guidance for banks and coordinate with ministries to address eligibility and operational bottlenecks.