The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced a new policy allowing commercial banks to exclude outstanding debt from specific large projects by Vingroup, Masterise Group, and Sun Group when calculating their credit growth limits. This directive, communicated in a document to commercial banks, responds to proposals from the three major developers regarding credit growth calculations, the ratio of short-term capital for medium to long-term lending, and credit limits for these initiatives.

These initiatives are large-scale, key projects that foster regional and local economic development through widespread, interconnected benefits, as outlined in directives from the Government Office. Consequently, the SBV permits commercial banks to exclude the new outstanding annual loan balances from their credit growth calculations when providing credit for these projects.

To prevent lending from surpassing a project's actual capital needs, commercial banks must monitor the outstanding debt generated by these projects and report it to the State Bank. Before granting credit, banks must request enterprises to provide their total investment capital needs, confirm the purpose of capital use, and commit that the total outstanding credit will not exceed the project's capital demand.

Regarding credit limits for a single customer, or a customer and related parties, the State Bank acknowledges the significant capital requirements for these projects and encourages commercial banks to collaborate on syndicated loans. Should the credit amount exceed regulatory limits, banks must report to the State Bank, which will then submit the matter to the Prime Minister for review and decision.

Inside the Rach Chiec National Sports Complex project, Thu Duc City, 10/2024. *Quynh Tran*.

A leader from a major bank told VnExpress that the crucial aspect of this policy is whether credit institutions can secure long-term capital for these projects. They added that exceeding credit limits would still necessitate banks to submit the matter to the Prime Minister for consideration under current regulations.

The project portfolio proposed by Vingroup, Sun Group, and Masterise has an estimated total capital requirement of approximately 752,138 billion VND. These projects primarily focus on infrastructure development, including transportation infrastructure, urban railways, airports, and real estate. The portfolio includes: the APEC Convention Center, the expansion of Phu Quoc International Airport, the Rach Chiec National Sports Complex, the Ben Thanh - Can Gio railway, the Hanoi - Quang Ninh railway, and several projects at Gia Binh International Airport and its connecting routes to Hanoi.

Quynh Trang