Loans to the agricultural and rural areas in the first nine months increased by 17.6 per cent year-on-year (Photo: Agribank) Hanoi (VNA) - Credit growth of the entire banking system in the last 10 days of September rose 1.14 percent, pushing the total increase in the first nine months of this year to 12.16 percent, the latest report from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed.
Loans increased by 17.6 percent year-on-year to the agricultural and rural areas, 17.75 percent to the industrial sector, 19 percent to construction, and 18.1 percent to trade and services.
Outstanding loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises by the end of August accounted for 21 percent of the total outstanding loans, up 7.5 percent compared with the period till December 31 last year.
The high credit growth has helped boost GDP in the first nine months to 6.41 percent, much higher than the 5.99 percent increase in the first nine months of 2016.
SBV also reported that in the first nine months of 2017, over 300 meetings and dialogues between banks and enterprises were organised to assist enterprises in getting access to bank loans. Accordingly, banks committed to lending firms nearly 570 trillion VND (25.11 billion USD), of which more than 550 trillion VND was disbursed for corporate customers.
[Deposit interest rates up as Gov’t seeks low lending rates]
In addition, banks also provided other forms of support, such as reducing lending rates for firms’ old loans totalling nearly 20 trillion VND.
To support the economic growth, the Government has also requested SBV to continue the monetary policy in the direction of lowering lending rates, at the same time raising outstanding credit to 21-22 percent in 2017, based on credit quality and macro stability.
Together with the extension approval, SBV also instructed commercial banks to conduct scrutiny to ensure bank capital went to effective sectors, avoiding non-performing loans.
The central bank noted that it is ready to supply capital to the economy; however, the terms of lending will remain strict, in accordance with legal regulations and procedures.-VNA
VNA
