The bad debt ratio in the Mekong Delta region has been kept at around three percent a year during the last three year, according to the Credit Department of the State Bank (SBV).
 
The department’s Deputy Chief Vo Minh Tuan said the Mekong Delta region also saw a credit growth higher than the average level of the whole system.

As of September 30 this year, total outstanding loans of credit institutions in the region stood at 331.5 trillion VND (15.7 billion USD), up 8.49 percent from the end of last year and accounting for 9 percent of the national banking system’s lending. Statistics also showed nearly 70 percent of the loans were short-term.

In the same period, capital mobilization in the region amounted to 268 trillion VND (12.7 billion USD), a 13.88 percent increase compared to the level at the end of 2013.

The Credit Department said locally-mobilised capital could meet 81.82 percent of the total demand for the region’s social economic development, as against 66.4 percent in 2011.

Investment in agriculture and rural areas has increased significantly in recent years with outstanding loans totalling 160 trillion VND (7.6 billion USD) by September 30. The figure showed a 7.5 percent rise compared to the end of 2013, accounting for 22 percent of total loans in this field nationwide.-VNA