Government requests lower interest disparity between lending and deposit
Government requests lower interest disparity between lending and deposit
The government has requested that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) reduce the gap between deposit and lending interest rates.
Deposit interest rates have been cut to 7.5% since March, wihle lending interest rates remain at 11-15%, causing difficulties for many businesses to access credit during the current economic situation.
This has resulted in a low credit growth rate. As of April 23, the country saw a credit growth rate of only 1.4% from the end of 2012, while the SBV has set a target for credit growth rate of 12% this year.
The government has requested that priority be given in the availability of capital to a number of production and business sectors and that tighter control be placed over gold auctions in order to restrict inflation.
According to the National Financial Supervisory Commission, currently the average lending interest rate is around 9-12% per year for encouraged sectors and 11-15% for others.
The government also plans to complete procedures to put the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) into operation, which is meant to help deal with the problem of bad debts.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said ministries and agencies would continue settling bad debts and delay and exempt corporate income tax for enterprises up to a total VND38 trillion (USD1.8 billion) this year.
By the end of February, bad debt in the Vietnamese banking system had been reduced to 6% from 8% at the end of 2012.
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