Outstanding loans of the whole economy surpassed 12.3 quadrillion VND in the first five months of 2023, an increase of 3.17%compared to the end of 2022. (Photo: VNA)According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), outstanding loans of the wholeeconomy surpassed 12.3 quadrillion VND in the first five months of 2023, anincrease of 3.17% compared to the end of 2022.
This growth rate was lower than the rate of 8% in the first five months of2022. It showed that the capital absorption of the economy was still weak.
SBV deputy governor Pham Thanh Ha said manufacturing enterprises are stillfacing difficulties in the consumption of products, leading to lower demand fornew loans for production.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, some with weak financial situationshave had no feasible plans, so they have not met the bank's loan requirements.
Regarding real estate credit, many real estate projects have faceddifficulties, including legal problems, so the credit demand for real estatehas also decreased.
According to SSI experts, the weak demand for capital was the main reason forthe lower credit growth in the first five months of the year.
The experts have quoted the forecasts of commercial banks as saying that thecredit demand was low in the second quarter of 2023. This demand is unlikely toincrease sharply in the second half of the year because the businesses arestill facing many difficulties, although lending interest rates have droppedsignificantly after SBV's three policy interest rate cuts from March to May.
The average lending interest rate, excluding incentives, was 12.5% per year,down about 2.2% from the end of 2022 but still about 2% higher than the rate in2019, according to SSI.
Meanwhile, according to the latest data of SBV, the average lending interestrate for new loans is at 9.07% a year at present, down 0.9% compared to the endof last year.
Commercial banks have all lowered lending rates to stimulate investment andconsumption demand, but the new interest rates are mainly applied to new loans.Only a few commercial banks (mainly state-owned commercial banks) reduceinterest rates on existing loans.
Agribank is the bank with the most attractive lending rates in the system, butit is not easy to have credit growth.
This bank's credit growth reduced in the first four months of the year and onlyrecovered in May 2023. The difficulties of the domestic market, including weakconsumption of agricultural products, caused a strong reduction in creditdemand, according to Agribank.
VietinBank's credit growth reached 6% in the first five months, the highestamong state-owned commercial banks. However, a VietinBank leader said that inMay 2023, its credit growth began to decline.
Leaders of many banks have admitted that capital absorption of the economy istoo low even though the interest rates have cooled down. This causes big banksto curb the mobilisation of capital and also have solutions to attract moreborrowers.
A BIDV leader said with dozens of credit institutions, there are many chancesfor businesses to access credit. Many banks have strict regulations for lendingactivities, but there are some others without strict regulations, so businesseshave more opportunities to borrow capital.
At four large state-owned banks, including Vietcombank, Agribank, VietinBankand BIDV, the highest interest rate is 6.8% per year for a 12-month term.
At the same time, these banks are striving to reduce costs and further cutdeposit interest rates to continuously cool down lending rates.
Le Thanh Tung, a member of VietinBank's board of directors, told nhandan.vn that since the end ofFebruary, many banks have continuously announced interest rate reductions andlaunched credit packages to stimulate borrowing activities.
However, the number of dissolved and bankrupt enterprises was significantly higherthan that of newly established enterprises. That proves that businesses face somany difficulties.
Therefore, besides the banks' solutions, the SBV deputy governor said that thestimulative solutions for the economy are very important. Ministries andsectors should continue to promote supportive policies for the development ofenterprises, and remove difficulties in the consumption market and the realestate market.
BIDV will continue to reduce the lending interest rates to stimulate theinvestment and consumption needs of people and businesses, thereby helpingrecover credit growth.
VietinBank is striving to accelerate the implementation of the 2%interest rate support package and implement Circular 02 on debt structure./.
VNA
