VietNamNet Bridge – The outstanding loans have increased again since mid- August after a long period of stagnation, though the money has been disbursed mostly to big enterprises.

A report by the State Bank of Vietnam showed the higher credit growth rate in comparison with the same period of the last year. By the end of August, the capital pumped to the national economy had increased by 6.45 percent over the end of 2012.

With the more satisfactory credit growth, the watchdog agency has every reason to believe that the targeted 12 percent credit growth rate in 2013 is within reach. In 2012, the credit growth rate was modest at 8.9 percent.

With the efforts to fight against the dollarization, the outstanding loans in foreign currencies have decreased by 11.55 percent. Meanwhile, by the end of August, the dong loans had increased by 10.4 percent.

Most bankers have confirmed that they now can sigh with relief as the lending has bounced back.

Dang Bao Khanh, CEO of SeABank, said the credit grew by 2 percent only in the first half of the year, while the figure had jumped to 6 percent by August with the outstanding loans estimated at over VND1 trillion.

“SeABank plans to disburse big loans in September, which means that the credit growth rates of 8-9 percent are attainable,” Khanh said.

Nguyen Van Le from SHB also said in August alone, SHB disbursed VND3 trillion, while on the first 10 days of September, another VND1 trillion was disbursed.

“The demand for capital has increased significantly. Businesses need working capital to kick off their year-end production season,” Le explained, adding that SHB is sure the 12 percent credit growth rate target is reachable.

The finance report of Vietcombank showed the minus (-) 1.47 percent in the credit growth rate in the firs half of 2013. However, the outstanding loans had increased rapidly by 2.8 percent by the end of August in comparison with the end of 2012, according to the newly appointed CEO Nghiem Xuan Thanh.

However, analysts have warned that it’s too early to say that the capital flow to the economy has been put through. Only big enterprises with stable production and business performance can access bank loans.

The enterprises were listed as “good clients” in the past, to which banks were willing to lend money at low interest rates. They did not borrow capital in the first half of the year because of the lack of feasible production and business plans.

However, the big enterprises have come back as they need capital to implement the year-end production season. A banker said he is willing to lend at 5 percent per annum only, while the average lending interest rate now is at 8-9 percent.

“We not only expect the interests when lending to the good clients. We also hope that we can increase our income by providing other supporting services to the clients,” he said.

Vietcombank has also confirmed that its clients now are mostly state owned enterprises, which have big operation scale and good production projects. Meanwhile, small and medium enterprises are still hesitant to approach bank loans, as noted by Thanh.

VNN/VNE