According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the increasing rate is relative high compared with the same period in recent years.Loans to the agricultural and rural areas increased by 17.6 per cent year-on-year, the industrial sector was up 17.75 per cent, construction was up 19 per cent, and trade and services was up 18.1 per cent.
Outstanding loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises by the end of August accounted for 21 per cent of the total outstanding loans, up 7.5 per cent compared with the period till December 31 last year.
Outstanding loans of the entire banking system in the first nine months of this year rose 12.16 percent against December 31 last year.
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SBV also reported that in the first nine months of 2017, over 300 meetings and dialogues between banks and enterprises were organized to assist enterprises in getting access to bank loans. Accordingly, banks committed to lend to firms nearly VND570 trillion, of which more than VND550 trillion was disbursed for corporate customers.
In addition, banks also provided other forms of support, such as reducing lending rates for firms’ old loans totaling nearly VND20 trillion.
A recent survey conducted by SBV showed that many credit institutions continued to be optimistic about the trend of increasing demand for financial and banking services in 2017, especially demand for loans in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Under the survey, capital mobilization and lending are expected to accelerate in the last quarter of the year, of which capital mobilization will grow 5.32 per cent, as against 3.74 per cent in Q4 last year, and credit growth will rise 6.07 per cent, as against 5.91 per cent in Q4 of 2016.
To support the economic growth, the Government has also requested SBV to continue the monetary policy in the direction of lowering lending rates, at the same time raising outstanding credit to 21-22 per cent in 2017, based on credit quality and macro stability.
Together with the extension approval, SBV also instructed commercial banks to conduct scrutiny to ensure bank capital went to effective sectors, avoiding non-performing loans.
SBV noted that it is ready to supply capital to the economy; however, the terms of lending will remain strict, in accordance with legal regulations and procedures.
According to experts, raising the credit growth target to 22 per cent will enable banks to have more room to expand lending at the end of the year. However, it should be calculated with extreme caution, they said, adding that it would be very risky if credit did not flow into production and business but into sensitive business sectors, such as real estate and securities, especially at this time when the real estate and securities markets were warming up.
On the other hand, they warned that if the money continues to be injected without any positive impact on economic growth, inflation would surge.
