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Vietnam's bad debt hits 2.5 pct in 2010: Report
Bad debts in Vietnam's banking system rose to an estimated 2.5 percent of outstanding loans this year, up from 2.03 percent in 2009, a state-run newspaper quoted the central bank governor as saying on Saturday.
The ratio would be higher if the loan of less than VND26 trillion banks extended to state shipbuilder Vinashins was included, Governor Nguyen Van Giau was quoted by the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper as saying.
Vinashin had defaulted on a loan to a group of international lenders and informed them on Thursday it would make an interest payment only, sources with knowledge of the arrangement said.
Giau was speaking at an extra-ordinary session of the National Assembly's Economic Committee on Saturday, which questioned the country's inflation and interest rates this year.
The data on the health of the banking system were released after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut Vietnam's long-term sovereign credit ratings on Thursday, on concerns the banking sector has become more vulnerable to shocks.
Loans by Vietnam's banking system this year grew an estimated 27.65 percent from 2009, above the central bank's target of 25 percent, Giau was quoted as saying in an online report of the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper.
Loans in the Vietnamese dong rose 25.34 percent from 2009 while the credit in foreign currencies, mostly in U.S. dollar, jumped 37.76 percent.
Money supply was estimated to have risen 23 percent from last year, Giau said, compared with a central bank target of keeping the annual growth at 20 percent.
The reports gave no values of loans or money supply.
Data showing more cash had been injected into the economy this year came after the government said on Friday that inflation in December hit 11.75 percent from a year ago, beyond a government target to keep the annual rate at 8 percent.
The annual inflation rate in December is the highest since February 2009, when the consumer price index jumped 14.78 percent from a year ago, government data show.
The Vietnamese government aims to keep inflation next year at 7 percent.
The newspaper quoted a central bank report as saying it would make sure banks observe the deposit rate ceiling of 14 percent to ensure the consumer price index rise below 3.5 percent in the first half of 2011.
tuoitrenews, Reuters
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