Vietnam's banks see lower bad debts, more loans: central bank
Vietnam's banks see lower bad debts, more loans: central bank
Vietnam's banks expect improved business in the third quarter ending September and better results for the whole of 2015, with loans expected to grow faster and bad debts kept in check, the State Bank of Vietnam said on Tuesday.
"Banks extended their optimism over the economic recovery, customers' ability to absorb loans and banks' improving businesses in the next quarters of 2015," the central bank said of its survey of business sentiment among the country's lenders.
The sector could post annual credit growth of 18.2 percent this year, higher than a previous estimate of nearly 17 percent, while bad debts may account for 2.49 percent of total loans, below a government target of 3 percent, the bank said.
Deposits could grow 15.8 percent this year, also exceeding a previous forecast of 14.9 percent, while lending rates at year end are expected to have fallen 0.44 percentage point from 2014 and deposit rates could ease 0.2 percentage point.
The central bank has projected lending this year to grow up to 17 percent while aiming to cut the bad debt ratio to under 3 percent by September, a target previously set for the end of the year. It did not say how many banks participated in the survey.
