Series of relief measures rolled out after historic floods

Economic losses close to 100 trillion VND

Le Thi Gai, from Trung Trinh Quarter in Song Cau Ward, who has spent more than 15 years supplying feed and fingerlings and providing technical support for fish-farming rafts, has also been left reeling in the wake of the floods. Her work, normally steady year-round — especially toward the end of the season when demand for feed rises sharply — was suddenly paralysed. When raft owners reported mass shrimp deaths and asked to halt all orders, her family’s income was abruptly “cut off”.

Beyond the loss of revenue, Gai’s warehouse also suffered heavy damage as the tide rose. More than 200 sacks of feed, vitamins and bio-products were soaked through and could no longer be used. What worries her most is not the immediate loss, but the future of shrimp farming in the area. Many households have been wiped out, rafts have been damaged, and they have no idea where to find capital to start again.

“If they can’t farm any more, then small traders like me are finished too. We’ve relied on this bay for decades, and now I don’t know how we’ll cope,” Gai said.

The impact of the floods has not been confined to coastal areas. Many manufacturing businesses in the central region have also suffered severe losses as floodwaters poured into industrial parks. Numerous factories from Quang Tri Province to Phu Yen Province were submerged, operations were disrupted, and raw materials and machinery were extensively damaged.

At Phu Tai Industrial Park (Gia Lai Province), Quy Nhon Pillow and Mattress Joint Stock Company (a major producer in the mattress, foam and garment sectors) suffered the heaviest losses. During the rapid rise in floodwaters, the entire workshop area, machinery system, and warehouses for raw materials and finished products were inundated. Although the company’s staff and workers moved quickly to clean up as soon as the water receded, it has still not been able to fully quantify the damage. This has been the situation for most businesses in Phu Tai Industrial Park.

At Binh Dinh Footwear Joint Stock Company, losses were no less serious. The workshops were deeply flooded for hours, leaving many critical pieces of equipment completely ruined. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, the company’s director, said the firm had taken preventive measures early and mobilised all personnel to clear up as soon as the water went down, but the incident struck at the peak period for year-end orders.

“If delivery schedules continue to be disrupted, the business could face contract cancellations. That would not only affect revenue but also seriously damage our credibility with long-standing partners.”

A range of support measures

Nguyen Thanh Ha, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), said that storms and post-storm heavy rains since July 2025 have affected around 250,000 customers, with outstanding loans totalling nearly 60 trillion VND. Following directives from the Government and the Prime Minister, the SBV has proactively and decisively rolled out timely measures to support affected borrowers, including credit programmes and packages with interest rates lower than standard lending rates to help restore production and business.

Specifically, the SBV has issued five directives to credit institutions, foreign bank branches and SBV branches in areas affected by storms and floods. At the same time, it has urgently reviewed and assessed business operations and borrowers’ debt-repayment capacity so that support measures can be applied in a timely manner to ease difficulties.

Credit institutions have restructured repayment schedules for many customers and reduced interest rates by 0.5%–2% a year for three to six months for nearly 24,000 customers, with outstanding loans of about 14 trillion VND. In addition, they have launched preferential lending programmes worth roughly 70 trillion VND to help businesses resume operations after the storms. To date, credit institutions have disbursed nearly 1.5 trillion VND in loans to around 6,500 customers. In the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors alone, they have disbursed about 600 billion VND to roughly 4,000 customers.

Based on a proposal from the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies, on December 4, 2025, the Prime Minister signed Decision 2654, which provides for a 2% a year cut in lending rates for three months (from October to December 2025). Around three million customers affected by storms and floods in 22 provinces and cities are expected to benefit, with total interest support of more than 1.1 trillion VND.

For Storm No. 13, which caused damage in four localities — Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa Provinces — the VBSP is urgently completing procedures to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration a further 2% a year reduction in lending rates for three months (from October to December 2025). Nearly one million customers affected after Storm No. 13 in these four localities are expected to receive interest support totalling nearly 300 billion VND.

According to Nguyen Duc Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister has decided to disburse more than 6.8 trillion VND from the 2025 central budget to support affected localities, ensuring emergency funding to meet the needs of disaster response and recovery from storms and floods.

The deputy minister added that the design of tax and fee policies already sets out very clearly. The Law on Tax Administration stipulates that organisations, individuals and businesses suffering losses due to disasters such as storms and floods will be considered for tax deferrals and extensions of tax payment deadlines.

In addition, the Law on Corporate Income Tax provides that businesses may treat force majeure losses caused by natural disasters such as storms and floods as reasonable and allowable deductible expenses. The Law on Personal Income Tax contains similar provisions, under which individuals who suffer losses may be considered for tax relief through deductions. Furthermore, the Law on Natural Resources Tax includes comparable provisions for cases involving accidents or sudden natural disasters, where tax exemptions or reductions may be considered.

The Ministry of Finance is currently providing proactive and detailed guidance to localities, businesses, organisations and individuals so they can understand and apply these provisions and benefit from State support policies on taxes, fees and disaster recovery. Insurance businesses operating in disaster-hit areas are coordinating with affected enterprises, organisations and individuals to implement insurance contracts, while also offering the most specific guidance and creating the most favourable and fastest conditions for compensation to insured parties.

“Throughout this process, we will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, all affected localities, and relevant ministries and sectors to both identify financial solutions for urgent disaster-response needs, and consider other financial solutions for gradual recovery,” the deputy minister of finance said.