Revealed: The Shocking Truth About Bank Lending Speeds in Ho Chi Minh City
Credit Growth in Ho Chi Minh City Slows Down Amid Economic Challenges
Despite expectations, credit growth of banks in Ho Chi Minh City has not seen significant improvements, with businesses still facing numerous difficulties.
Data from the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office reveals that as of August 2024, the outstanding credit balance of the credit institution system in the area has only reached 4.5% compared to the end of the previous year. This figure falls short of the national credit growth rate, which stood at 6.63% as of August 26.
Notably, the lending rate of the banking system in Ho Chi Minh City has shown signs of slowing growth over the past two months. The increase in lending rates was 4% in June, 3.9% in July, and 4.5% in August compared to the end of the previous year.
Despite falling lending rates, credit growth has slowed down. Statistics in Ho Chi Minh City show that as of August, lending rates in VND were 0.9 to 1 percentage point lower for short-term terms compared to the end of the previous year, despite deposit interest rates inching up.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office, these figures indicate that the capital absorption capacity of the Ho Chi Minh City economy has not improved significantly. As a result, the annual credit growth target of 15% may face numerous challenges if no solution is implemented.
The State Bank noted that although the credit growth of the entire system in the first 8 months reached 6.63%, there was differentiation among banks. Some banks experienced low growth, even negative growth, while others increased close to their previously assigned target.
Statistics from VPBank Securities Company (VPBankS) show that some banks had credit growth below 5% in the first half of the year, including Sacombank, TPBank, BVBank, PGBank, SeABank, and ABBank.
Dr. Ho Hoang Anh, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, commented that many indicators suggest that domestic enterprises in the city are facing numerous difficulties. There are no signs of a solid recovery in investment activities in the first half of the year. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus on stimulating domestic consumption and investment to help aggregate demand recover faster and reduce dependence on exports.