An aquaculture area in Quảng Ninh Province after Typhoon Yagi. To date, 32 out of 40 commercial banks have registered to provide a total of VNĐ405 trillion (US$16.43 billion) in preferential loans to support customers who were affected by the typhoon. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vân

HÀ NỘI — To date, 32 out of 40 commercial banks have registered to provide a total of VNĐ405 trillion (US$16.43 billion) in preferential loans with rates up to 2 per centage points lower to support customers who were affected by the Typhoon Yagi, Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam Nguyễn Thị Hồng said.

Vietcombank has reduced lending rates by 0.5 to 2 percentage points from September 6 to December 31 for all customers who suffered heavy damage from the typhoon with a total outstanding loan of around VNĐ160 trillion.

Agribank also offers similar rate cuts and exemption of overdue interest payments to the end of this year for existing customers. The bank also offers a reduction of 0.5 per cent per year in lending rates for new loans for a maximum of six months.

BIDV recently announced rate reduction by up to 2 per cent per year, depending on the levels of damage and lending terms. The reduction will be applied to total loans of around VNĐ100 billion, including VNĐ40 billion for existing loans and VNĐ60 trillion for new loans from September 20 to December 31.

Other banks are also offering interest rate reductions including Vietinbank, HDBank, Sacombank, MSB, VPBank, ACB, Eximbank, BVBank, NamABank and Shinhan Việt Nam.

Several banks also offer up to 100 per cent reductions of interest for customers through the end of 2024.

Ngô Thu Hà, general director of SHB, said that the bank will actively evaluate the damages and offer reductions to customers.

The State Bank of Việt Nam’s statistics show that 83,400 customers with outstanding loans totalling VNĐ116 trillion have been affected by the typhoon.

The central bank has asked commercial banks to make efforts to lower rates to support affected customers and to ensure transparency to prevent policy profiteering. — VNS