A woman asks an officer about the price of an apartment in 12 View project in HCM City's District 12. Recently, there was a rumour on VND2-billion credit package to high-income civil servants and soldiers who want to buy a house or an apartment. However, the State Bank of Viet Nam denied it. — Photo news.zing.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) last Wednesday denied offering a VND2-billion (US$95,200) credit package to high-income civil servants and soldiers who want to buy a house or apartment.

At a National Assembly meeting, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh said there was as yet no official plan to offer such a package.

According to the rumoured proposal, civil servants and soldiers with an average monthly income of more than VND25 million ($1,190) can borrow the money to purchase medium- and high-end terrace houses and apartments worth VND4 billion to VND5 billion ($190,500 to $238,000) each. A qualified household can borrow a maximum amount of $95,200, with an annual lending rate of six to 7.5 per cent, for a maximum 10-year period.

The loan could cover up to 75 per cent of the total value of the house or apartment to be purchased, and borrowers could use their own houses or apartments as mortgage.

The proposal has stirred a public debate. The Infonet online newspaper quoted Nguyen Van Duc, vice chairman of HCM City's Real Estate Association, as saying there was no reason to offer such a package to civil servants, and wondered whether the package aimed to resolve a huge inventory of high-end property projects that remained unsold because they were too expensive.

He added that the proposal would not help low-income earners and suggested that the Government and real estate market instead provide VND500 loans to the people to enable them to buy medium-end apartments.

VND2 trillion disbursed

The SBV governor also revealed that as of September 20, the SBV has disbursed loans in its VND30-trillion ($1.42-billion) credit package to 7,823 borrowers. Of these borrowers, businesses numbered 26 while households and individuals made up the remainder.

According to Binh, banks committed VND5.9 trillion ($280 million) and disbursed VND3.2 trillion ($152 million) in loans. The disbursement was 3.5 times higher than that of the same period last year. — VNS