Vietnam’s bad debts rise to $7.24 billion
Bad debts in Vietnamese banks accounted for 4.64 per cent of total loans by the end of August, up from 4.58 per cent the previous month, the central bank said on November 4 according to a Reuters report.
Banks reported total loans of 3,290 trillion dong ($156 billion) at the end of August, up 6.44 per cent from the end of 2012, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a report on its website, suggesting bad debts would stand at $7.24 billion.
However, Independent experts have estimated that bad debts at Vietnam’s banks could be considerably higher than reported. State-owned banks are saddled with huge debts to state firms and have been blamed for high rates of real estate-related bad debts.
Vietnam’s economy, which slowed in 2012 as banks tightened lending to avoid bad debts, has been accelerating so far this year, but fresh funds remain limited as banks have yet to complete cleaning their books. To deal with the bad debt situation, the central bank in July launched an asset firm to buy them from banks, a move touted as one of its biggest reforms but widely seen as a band-aid fix for its ailing, credit-starved economy.
Banks may achieve annual credit growth of between 11 and 12 per cent in 2013, in line with the central bank’s target of 12 per cent, State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Binh told parliament in late October.
Bad debts in Vietnamese banks accounted for 4.64 per cent of total loans by the end of August, up from 4.58 per cent the previous month, the central bank said on November 4 according to a Reuters report. Banks reported total loans of 3,290 trillion dong ($156 billion) at the end of August, up 6.44 per cent from the end of 2012, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a report on its website, suggesting bad debts would stand at $7.24 billion. However, Independent experts have estimated that bad debts at Vietnam's banks could be considerably higher than reported. State-owned...
Bad debts in Vietnamese banks accounted for 4.64 per cent of total loans by the end of August, up from 4.58 per cent the previous month, the central bank said on November 4 according to a Reuters report.
Banks reported total loans of 3,290 trillion dong ($156 billion) at the end of August, up 6.44 per cent from the end of 2012, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a report on its website, suggesting bad debts would stand at $7.24 billion.
However, Independent experts have estimated that bad debts at Vietnam’s banks could be considerably higher than reported. State-owned banks are saddled with huge debts to state firms and have been blamed for high rates of real estate-related bad debts.
Vietnam’s economy, which slowed in 2012 as banks tightened lending to avoid bad debts, has been accelerating so far this year, but fresh funds remain limited as banks have yet to complete cleaning their books. To deal with the bad debt situation, the central bank in July launched an asset firm to buy them from banks, a move touted as one of its biggest reforms but widely seen as a band-aid fix for its ailing, credit-starved economy.
Banks may achieve annual credit growth of between 11 and 12 per cent in 2013, in line with the central bank’s target of 12 per cent, State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Binh told parliament in late October.
