The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a conference in Hai Phong on boosting bank credit to support economic growth in Region 6 and formally launched the SBV Region 6 branch under its new regional operating model. Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha asked credit institutions to expand lending toward production and priority sectors and local growth drivers, while tightly controlling credit to potentially higher-risk areas, simplifying credit procedures, and working to lower lending rates. SBV said it had assigned an indicative 2025 credit growth target of around 16% to credit institutions at end-2024 and issued 10 directives in the first two months of 2025 to drive early-year credit expansion, streamline lending processes, and increase the use of digital tools in credit origination. System-wide credit was up 1.24% from end-2024 as at 12 March 2025, compared with a 0.74% contraction over the same period in 2024. In Region 6, outstanding loans reached VND 841.342 trillion at 31 January 2025 (5.8% of national lending), up VND 8.159 trillion or 0.97% from end-2024; Hai Phong and Quang Ninh accounted for close to 60% of the region’s credit. The SBV Region 6 branch has been operating since 1 March 2025 under the government’s Decree 26/2025/ND-CP, merging SBV’s former provincial branches in Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Quang Ninh and Thai Binh, with headquarters in Hai Phong and four satellite locations; its structure includes seven functional departments and 236 staff. Region 6 is the first stop in SBV leadership’s programme of engagements across 15 regions to identify and address constraints affecting credit and banking operations, alongside continued implementation of the bank–business connectivity programme and government-directed credit programmes, including policy lending and the social housing lending programme under Government Resolution 33/NQ-CP.

Original source View in tracker