We-Fi adds $5 million to support Vietnam’s women-led SMEs

Dec 22nd at 15:19
22-12-2020 15:19:24+07:00

We-Fi adds $5 million to support Vietnam’s women-led SMEs

The grant will incentivize participating banks in Vietnam to restructure existing loans or extend new loans to at least 500 women-led small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Vietnamese government today [December 22] signed a US$5 million grant agreement, funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), to support Vietnamese women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (WSMEs) whose access to finance has been weakened because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Overview of the signing ceremony.

On behalf of the Government, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam has signed the agreements with Mr. Andrew Jeffries, Country Director for Vietnam, signing on behalf of the ADB.

“Although Vietnam has managed the Covid-19 pandemic well, supply chain disruptions, economic downturns in export markets, and declines in tourism have slowed the country’s economy,” said Mr. Andrew Jeffries, ADB Country Director for Vietnam. “To revive and sustain their businesses, support to access critical financing is essential for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially WSMEs adversely affected by Covid-19.”

Economic disruptions caused by Covid-19 fall hardest on SMEs, which have very limited resources to manage economic shocks. In June 2020, the General Statistics Office reported that nearly 30,000 Vietnamese businesses registered to temporarily suspend their operations, a 38% increase over the first half of 2019.

The grant will finance the Covid-19 Relief for Women-led Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Project, aiming to incentivize participating banks in Vietnam to restructure existing loans or extend new loans to at least 500 WSMEs. Funds will be disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis, so that the banks will be competing for the funds and are incentivized to proactively find eligible WSMEs.

Five banks have volunteered to participate in the grant, including the Asia Commercial Bank, Bank for Investments and Development of Vietnam, Saigon-Hanoi Bank, Tien Phong Bank, and Vietnam Prosperity Bank.

The economic gains of the project are likely to come from helping WSMEs to avoid bankruptcies, to preserve employment, and to access credit at a time when banks are reducing lending. The project complements the government’s financial inclusion strategy, approved in February 2020, which places special emphasis on both women and SMEs.

We-Fi is governed by 14 founding contributing countries and managed by the World Bank. It aims to mobilize more than US$1 billion in commercial and international financial institution finance to improve the business environment for women-owned or led SMEs. In 2019, ADB received $20.19 million from Wi-Fi to support WSMEs to access financing and training in Vietnam and the Pacific.

Hanoi Times





NEWS SAME CATEGORY

Bad debt ratio in Hanoi banking sector stays at 1.91%

Total capital mobilized by credit institutions in Hanoi this year is estimated to increase by 12.91% year-on-year and total outstanding loans at 9.58%.

Moody’s raises BIDV’s foreign-currency deposit rating

The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV)'s foreign-currency deposit rating has been raised from B1 to Ba3 by Moody’s.

Vietnam banks speed up replacement of magnetic cards

To help accelerate the application of chip cards, most banks are offering the switch free of charge.

Vietnam banks to phase out magnetic stripes for EMV chips on cards

Chips of EMV, short for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, standards will replace the magnetic stripes on cards issued by Vietnamese banks, starting March 2021.

Vietnam PM rejects claim of currency manipulation for unfair trade gains

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc assigned related ministries and agencies to continue working with their US counterparts on maintaining strong bilateral relations that would...

Vietnam banks required to issue chip cards from March 2021

As of the end of the third quarter, Vietnam has around 93.78 million bank cards in circulation, in which the majority are magnetic cards.

Tax and fiscal support in response to coronavirus crisis

The Ministry of Finance is planning to further support the business community, including the extension of the validity period for existing support programs already...

PM Phuc dismisses US claim Vietnam manipulates currency for trade advantage

Vietnam's monetary policies are meant to ensure economic stability and not create trade advantages for it, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

Vietnam has no intention to manipulate currency

A devaluation of the Vietnamese dong will disrupt and cause severe consequences to the local economy, said an expert.

VBSP: Poverty reduction by brain and by heart

Providing policy credit as an important channel for poverty reduction, Vietnam Bank for Social Policies has been awarded the Labour Hero in renovation title.

Bank stocks

Insurance stocks


MOST READ


Back To Top