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The existence of bottlenecks in accessing capital continues to be a barrier for small and medium-sized enterprises. Policy makers are actively identifying and understanding the causes and shortcomings in order to propose the most effective solutions. This is the purpose of the forum "Access to Capital - Clearing Bottlenecks" recently organized by the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) in coordination with the Enterprise Development Agency, Ministry of Planning and Investment, held over the weekend in Binh Duong.

Determination of the knot

At the forum, valuing assets at banks in the current context is a concern raised by many businesses. Mr. Nguyen Tri Ky, Chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Dak Nong province, said that currently, businesses are in great need of capital. However, the low valuation of assets compared to the market also makes it difficult for businesses to open loan files. Therefore, there needs to be specific regulations in valuing assets for borrowing capital. “The importance is how to quickly access capital. Banks should consider providing unsecured loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. If each small and medium-sized enterprise is granted an unsecured loan within a limit of about 500 million VND, it will reduce the risk pressure for the bank,” Mr. Nguyen Tri Ky proposed.

The production and business activities of enterprises still face many challenges, including difficulties in accessing capital. In the photo: the enterprise expresses opinions on accessing capital at the forum

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Uyen, an expert consultant at the Digital Human Resource Development Center of Binh Duong University, stated that in Vietnam, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for about 98% of the total number of businesses, but the majority of them do not have the ability to afford high-quality labor. Additionally, about 50% of these businesses lack capital, and 50% lack the necessary workforce to meet the requirements. Many businesses no longer have collateral assets to borrow money, so it is very necessary for the involvement of regulatory agencies and banks to resolve this "capital shortage".

Meanwhile, Mr. Vu Dang Khue, Deputy Chairman in charge of Training and Development, Member Support and Business Assistance - Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Association of Vietnam, believes that the biggest internal weakness of businesses today is that the majority of small businesses have weak competitiveness, limited management and administration capacity, high operating costs, and are experiencing losses in production and business, making it very difficult to access funding sources, especially preferential loans.

Meanwhile, Mr. Luu Viet Linh, Deputy Director of Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) Ho Chi Minh City Branch, commented that currently small and medium-sized enterprises have many limitations in terms of capital scale, owner's equity, financial capacity, and management level. It is worth noting that the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises have unreliable financial reports. Moreover, accounting documents do not meet the prescribed standards, making it difficult for banks to consider granting credit.

Issues clearly detected

Sharing at the forum, experts and managers believe that the bank has been and is implementing many innovative and flexible solutions in applying lending methods. Mr. Luu Viet Linh said that recently, OCB has widely applied the lending method based on financial reports and annual tax reports. OCB does not require compulsory purchase of insurance when borrowing capital, but only checks the insurance file for risk of batch or construction projects under construction. Therefore, the management and accounting records of the enterprise need to be noted during the storage process.

Mr. Vu Dang Khue also believes that the current bottleneck is not how to access capital, but rather how businesses can change their mindset, vision, and establish a process to access bank capital in order to increase their credit access capabilities. Regarding the issue of brand valuation for businesses, besides collateral assets such as real estate and fixed assets, what else does the business have to pledge for bank loans? Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to change the business, have good products, a well-planned business plan, the ability to access the market, the ability to recover capital, and have a good business operation team... With all of these, accessing capital will be more feasible.

Capital is considered the lifeblood of a business, but when it becomes constrained, a lack of funding can cause many difficulties for the production and operation of the enterprise. The government has implemented some financial programs to support interest rates for businesses, but the actual implementation has shown many difficulties and limitations in accessing these programs.

According to Mrs. Trinh Thi Huong, Deputy Director of the Enterprise Development Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment, in order to access unsecured loan sources, including loans from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund, businesses must meet the criteria for two priority groups: innovative and creative enterprises, and enterprises within value chain clusters. In fact, in recent times, many domestic commercial banks have implemented the disbursement process of borrowed capital according to the value chain, which has been effective. However, according to Ms. Huong, the number of businesses accessing this funding source is still limited, while the resources of the State are still limited.

Reported by Thanh Hong – Translated by Vi Bao