The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, said in a statement that it has increased its trade finance and supply chain finance over the past 12 months to help Vietnamese companies, especially garment and agribusiness companies, continue importing and exporting goods while protecting thousands of jobs.
The IFC first expanded its trade finance limits for Vietnamese banks to pre-empt potential trade finance challenges triggered by the first outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020.
In 2021, the IFC continued expanding its trade finance operations in Vietnam to further support increased trade flows to help accelerate COVID-19 recovery.
The IFC's Global Trade Finance Programme has boosted the capacity of six Vietnamese banks to cover payment risks in granting trade financing to local companies, mostly small and medium enterprises.
The six banks include ABBank, SeABank, TPBank, VIB, Vietinbank and VPBank.
With the IFC's support, the banks have issued 974 guarantees valued at US$686 million, to support exporters and importers.
The IFC has also provided US$418 million to local suppliers, helping them maintain liquidity and give payment term extensions required by buyers.
Demand for supply chain finance surged during the pandemic due to the liquidity gap faced by suppliers as a result of disrupted supply chains.
In response, the IFC increased its financing for Vietnamese garment and agribusiness companies by 28% in the 2021 fiscal year, allowing 31 companies to sustain operations and secure more than 100,000 jobs./.
Source: nhandan.vn