Local credit institutions had settled bad debts worth VND907.33 trillion (US$38.9 billion) between 2012 and March this year, said Nguyen Trong Du, deputy chief inspector of the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency under the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
At a press briefing held on June 13, Du said the figure was VND163.14 trillion in 2018 alone.
Since early this year, the total money supply has increased by 5.17 percent over the end of last year, said Pham Thanh Ha, head of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department. The central bank aims to increase the rate to 13 percent this year, while credit is expected to grow 14%.
Interest rates at credit institutions have been kept stable. Lending rates ranged from 6 percent to 9 percent for short-term loans and from 9 percent to 11 percent for medium- and long-term loans.
As of June 10, the outstanding loans had increased by 5.75 percent against the end of last year, mainly going to production and business activities and priority sectors. Specifically, loans to the export-processing sector had increased 13%; hi-tech enterprises, 14.33%; and small and medium firms, 5.04%.
According to Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the SBV’s Credit Department, banks have basically met the capital demand of individuals and enterprises.
Since the beginning of the year, the SBV has asked banks to deploy solutions to create easier access to loans and reduce black credit, Hung added.
Meanwhile, credit for sectors of high risks, especially the property sector, has been tightened. In order to ensure the sustainable development of the real estate sector, the government had earlier assigned the central bank to encourage credit institutions to prioritise loans for projects to develop social houses, low-cost commercial houses and houses for rent.
In the coming period, the SBV will continue enhancing its control over credit for risky sectors, including property and securities, build-transfer and build-operate-transfer projects as well as consumer credit.
At the press conference, the SBV also informed that in the first five months of the year, 64.16 million transactions valued at some VND35.7 trillion were conducted through the interbank electronic payment system, up over 23 percent in the number of transactions and nearly 18 percent in value year-on-year.
https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/69055/over-vnd9073 trillion-of-bad-debts-settled-in-7-years-sbv.html
