The agreement aims to enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Việt Nam to access the market's leading preferential capital. — Photo bnews.vn

The Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise Development Fund (SMEDF) and the Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) signed a framework agreement on indirect lending on Tuesday.

The agreement aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Việt Nam access the market's leading preferential capital.

Representatives of the two units expect that the cooperation between the SMEDF and OCB would support SMEs that were still weak and lacking capital. This will contribute to change the risk appetite of credit institutions, shifting from emphasising collateral criteria to focusing on assessing the internal capacity of enterprises.

The two sides believed that, with the goal of enhancing support for the small- and medium-sized enterprise community, the cooperation between the SMEDF and OCB would become increasingly close, thereby co-ordinating to effectively deploy capital sources to SMEs.

In Decision No 12/QĐ-HĐTV, dated October 4 last year, the SMEDF announced the lending interest rates. Accordingly, the short-term lending interest rate is 1.2 per cent per year, the medium-term lending interest rate is 4.4 per cent per year and the long-term lending interest rate is 4.4 per cent per year. — VNS