According to data from the State Bank presented at the monetary policy conference on removing difficulties for production and business on March 14, capital poured into real estate and securities in the first two months of the year increased compared to the same period last year, while other sectors decreased.
Overall, credit growth as of February 29 decreased by 0.72% compared to the end of last year. This level is better than the data announced by the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the end of last month (-1.12%). The rate of credit decline in February slowed down (-0.05%) compared to January (0.6%).
Credit improved, but remained negative, according to Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu due to seasonal factors during the Lunar New Year, along with low capital absorption capacity.
According to him, at the beginning of the year, businesses often limit new loans. Many units even reduce or stop operations due to inflationary pressure, rising material prices, and lack of orders. People increase their reserves and reduce loans for spending.
Some customer groups do not meet the loan conditions due to their small scale, limited capacity, and lack of feasible business plans. At the same time, bank lending is also affected due to the real estate market not recovering, because this group accounts for about 21% of total credit.
"Liquidity is abundant and there is still room for credit growth. Banks currently have favorable conditions to provide loans," the Deputy Governor said.
However, credit growth in the first two months of the year decreased, while the amount of deposits is still very large, about 14 million billion VND, meaning there is a lot of money but capital cannot enter the economy. Currently, the average deposit interest rate is 3.3% per year. Loan interest is about 6.4% per year for new loans. These rates are down 0.2% and 0.7% respectively compared to 2023.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, in his opening speech at today's conference, asked ministries and sectors to discuss and clarify why, even though interest rates have decreased, businesses still complain of a lack of capital and difficulty accessing credit.
"Where is the bottleneck, what is the cause? Is it due to regulations, management, prudence or locality?", he asked, and suggested clarifying the lending situation of the banking system by industry and sector to find solutions.
He requested ministries, sectors and localities to find solutions to stimulate investment and consumption, and increase the capital absorption capacity of people and businesses. The banking sector has a plan to manage monetary policy, especially interest rates and exchange rates, to prioritize promoting growth (6-6.5%), stabilizing the macroeconomy and controlling inflation.
On the banking side, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu admitted that some banks are cautious in lending due to rising bad debts. Lending procedures and loan approval times are too cautious at some banks, leading to low disbursement.
To increase access to capital, the State Bank leader said that the agency will amend and supplement regulations and operations in the direction of reducing interest rates, encouraging banks to reduce costs and publicly announce average lending interest rates.
The State Bank also proposed that ministries, branches and localities have solutions to increase access to credit for businesses. On the business side, Mr. Tu suggested that they restructure and make their financial situation transparent.
TT (according to VnExpress newspaper)Source
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