VietNamNet Bridge – Unable to access bank loans, businesses have to play tricks to seek loans from other different sources.

A report by the State Bank of Vietnam showed that the credit growth rate of the whole banking system in 2012 was 8.19 percent. Especially, the lending increased sharply during the 10 last days of the year, while by December 20, the outstanding loans had increased by 6.45 percent only.

Meanwhile, in January 2013, the credit reportedly decreased by 1.06 percent in comparison with December 2012.

As such, more than 3,000 trillion dong worth of capital was pumped into the market in 2012. However, it is not sure that the whole sum of money could reach businesses and individual clients. Meanwhile, businesses still keep complaining about the lack of capital, while 55,000 businesses have got dissolved.

Borrowing money from workers, the public

T, a subsidiary of a big group headquartered in Tu Liem district in Hanoi, has suffered the serious capital shortage since early 2012, simply because its partners did not make payment on schedule.

The company’s managers then were put on tenterhooks because they could not collect debts, while the company had owed workers’ salaries for six months by that time. Meanwhile, T could not borrow money from banks because it did not have collaterals for the loans, while the holding company refused to give support.

Finally, T’s managers decided to mobilize capital from its staff. The company encouraged workers to lend money to the company, promising the interest rates as high as the bank deposit interest rates and the debt payment on schedule.

Especially, the company’s managers, who have cars and houses, were encouraged to lend to the company which could be used as the mortgaged assets at the banks for loans.

However, the company’s managers failed to implement their plan. The sum of money raised from the staff was modest, because the workers themselves could not receive their salaries as promised, while many of them were laid off in the company’s effort to cut down expenses.

Meanwhile, those, who had idle money, refused to lend to the company because they feared they would not be able to get back money as promised, if the partners still had not made payment.

As a result, by early February 2013, the company still had owed 4-month salaries to its workers, while it was unclear about the business prospect in 2013.

In fact, seeking capital from staffs is the solution applied not only by T Company, but by many other businesses as well.

The director of a construction company in Thanh Xuan district said this is a favorite measure applied by businesses at this moment. This allows businesses to get more capital to resume production, while allowing workers to receive high interests from the lending (in general, businesses accept to pay the interest rates higher than the bank deposit interest rates to encourage workers to lend money).

A real estate firm in HCM City has found a new way of raising funds from the public. It advertised about the project on building apartments for lease at zero dong.

If clients hand in VND200 million dong to the company, they would be able to possess a 20 square meter apartment for a certain period of between six months and two years, while they would have to pay rents every month. They would only have to pay for electricity and water bills.

After the certain period, if the clients don’t want the apartment any more, they would get back the VND200 million from the company. Meanwhile, if they want to buy the apartment, they would get it at preferential prices.

DDDN