Vietnam'08 Credit Growth Soars 21 per cent-22 per cent On Year

Vietnam has seen credit growth at 21 per cent to 22 per cent this year thanks to stabilization measures adopted by the government to cool down red-hot growth and curb inflation.

 

The credit growth is driven by loans for private sector up 35 per cent-37 per cent, credits for exporters up 34 per cent to 36 per cent, loans for agricultural sector up more than 30 per cent and loans for state-owned enterprises up 12 per cent to 15 per cent. The total payments of the entire economy have soared 16 per cent to 17 per cent, the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, told an overview conference.

 

Non-performing loans of the entire banking system in Vietnam is low at 3.5 per cent of the total loans, the SBV said.

 

The banking sector has witnessed the number of bank card services and individual accounts jump 36 per cent to 15 million accounts and 13.4 million cards issued, up 46 per cent on year, the central bank noted.

 

Since July this year, the SBV has been switching to loosening the monetary policies from tightening with five times of benchmark interest rates cuts to 8.5 per cent from 14 per cent in co-concerted efforts to help boost investment and consumption to help lift the national economy out of recession as GDP growth this year has eased at 6.23 per cent and CPI has been minus for four consecutive months.

 

Seeing 2009 will be a tough year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested the banking sector take the monetary polices flexible in order to boost investment, demand to avert recession.

 

The government of Vietnam has recently announced the US$6 billion economic-stimulus package to maintain the GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent. (SBV Governor’s Statement, The People, Young People)