Credit growth will be curbed at around 17 per cent this year. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Credit growth inthe first eight months of this year rose by 8.18 percent over the end of lastyear, the lowest level since 2015, a report from the Ministry of Planning andInvestment showed.
The growth rate was 11.5 percent in the sameperiod of 2017, 9.67 percent in the same period of 2016 and 10.23 percent inthe same period of 2015. Despite the slowdown, the report assessed thatthe growth rate is reasonable, helping the monetary market stabilise in thefirst eight months of the year.
At a regular cabinet meeting on August 30,Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said that creditgrowth would be curbed at around 17 percent this year.
Despite controlled credit growth, loans forproduction and businesses with stable interest rates have still been ensured,Dung said, noting that in the first eight months of this year, the Governmentfocused on economic restructuring and did not rely on oil exploitation andcredit expansion for growth.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor of the State Bankof Vietnam (SBV) Dao Minh Tu also explained that the credit growth target ofabout 8.5 percent in the remaining months of this year matches the requirementsfor economic growth and inflation control.
Tu highlighted the rosy economic growth with inflationtamed at below 4 percent over the past eight months, but noted that althoughthe inflation rate was below the target set by the Government, caution is stillnecessary to control the rate in the remaining months of the year.
For the goal of economic stabilisation andensuring capital for priority areas, credit institutions have set their ownplans, Tu said.
To control credit growth at 17 percent this year,SBV Governor Le Minh Hung earlier also affirmed that the SBV would not adjustupward credit growth limits for commercial banks for the rest of the yearthough many banks said they were hoping for higher credit limits as they hadalready used up most, if not all, of their assigned quota for the year.
According to current regulations, SBV sets a creditgrowth limit for each commercial bank depending on the bank’s health at thebeginning of the year. This is done to control credit growth for the entirebanking system and to support Government targets.
According to banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu, thecredit slowdown would allow banks to pay more attention to credit quality andcredit risk management.
Currently, interest rates are commonly 6-9 percentper year for short-term ordinary loans, and 9-11 per year for medium- andlong-term ordinary loans.
For loans in priority sectors, includingagriculture businesses, firms producing goods for export, small- andmedium-sized enterprises, enterprises operating in auxiliary industries andhi-tech enterprises including startups, the lending interest rate is 6.5percent per year.-VNS/VNA
