The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has revised down its forecast for Vietnam ’s Consumer Price Index to 6.5 percent from 7.3 percent this year.
Lower oil prices, weaker-than-expected domestic demand and slight increase in rice prices are the major reasons behind HSBC’s revision of this-year inflation forecast.
In its March 2014 report on Vietnam ’s macroeconomic prospects, HSBC also said Vietnamese banks’ bad debt ratio has dropped to 3.6 percent in February 2014 from 4.6 percent in September 2013.
The consumer price index in February showed fell to 4.6 percent, Vietnam’s consumer price index in February rose slightly by 0.55 percent against the previous month.
The bank said the export performance shows that the demand for Vietnamese goods continues to rise but it will be better following the recovery of the exports of agricultural products, especially coffee.-VNA
