HCMC's credit growth hits 4-year high in Jan-Sep

By VnExpress October 17, 2016 | 12:45 am PT

Low interest rates boosted lending to $63 billion in the first nine months.

Loans offered by banks in Ho Chi Minh City totaled VND1,400 trillion ($63 billion) in the first nine months, up 13.26 percent from the end of last year, central bank data showed.

That was the highest credit growth rate for a January-September period in four years, the central bank said at a meeting on Monday with the city’s top leaders.

The central bank said it has managed to keep interest rates low to boost economic growth.

Local businesses have been taking advantage of low borrowing costs as well as relaxed lending policies aimed at supporting business and production activity.

Bad debt in the city's banking system was estimated at 3.8 percent of total outstanding loans at the end of August.

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