He said the National Assembly’s Resolution 42/2017/QH14 on piloting the settlement of bad debt at credit institutions is a very important legal framework for credit institutions to accelerate the handling of non-performing loans.

Bad debt settlement is a problem that has lingered on for many years, he noted, adding that the Government and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the SBV to promptly review bottlenecks in the bad debt settlement.

The central bank has closely followed credit institutions’ implementation of Resolution 42, which took effect on August 15, and reported problems and obstacles to the Government. It selected six banks for the pilot settlement of bad debt from now to the end of 2017 so as to serve as examples for expanding bad debt settlement to the remaining credit institutions, he noted.

He added since the beginning of 2017, under the Government’s direction, the SBV has taken drastic actions to steer the monetary policy while credit institutions have made efforts to reduce interest rates, channel the capital flow to production and business activities, and press on with restructuring the banking system and handling bad debt.

That has helped fuel GDP growth in the third quarter, improve Vietnam’s business climate and increase the prospect and prestige of the country’s banking system in the world, Hung said.

The central bank governor was among officials set to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding issues within their remits. The question and answer sessions are part of the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National Assembly.-VNA