More than 55 percent of commercial banks expect their business performance results this year to outstrip last year, while 14.1 percent hold the opposite opinion.

According to the latest survey conducted by the State Bank of Vietnam’s Monetary Statistics and Forecasting Department, 71.4 percent of banks expected their profits to rise in the second half of this year, although at a predicted level of below 10 percent.

As much as 65 percent of banks predicted that their profits would increase this year compared to 78.4 percent of last Decembers poll, which indicates that banks are more cautious about predicting profit growth for this year after the unexpected results in the first half of the year.

The business performance results of most of banks in the first half of this year left many disappointed. Only 30.4 percent of banks said that their performance results had improved in H1 against 40.2 percent in the December survey.

Nearly 50 percent of banks also reported that their pre-tax profit has fallen, mostly between 20-30 percent, over the same period last year.

However, banks are still optimistic about the future, saying that the business climate is improving at last. Most banks forecast that both deposit and lending interest rates will drop further over the next 3-6 months.

63.3 percent of banks expected a better business outlook in the second half and only 3.8 percent were pessimistic about the economic climate in the latter months of 2013.-VNA