Vietnam bank loans grew 6.16% in May

This represents a slightly faster expansion than the previous months.

Reuters reports that Vietnamese banks’ loans rose at a faster pace after growing by 6.16% in May than at the end of 2017.

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Lending by Vietnamese banks beat the usual New Year slump after rising 5% from January to April even though loan growth usually clocks in between 3-3.5% in the first few months of the year due to less manufacturing activity.

The strong lending momentum is expected to fall largely in line with the central bank credit growth target of 17% for 2018.

Bad debts accounted for 2.18% of total lending by the end of Q1, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a statement, which also comes largely in line with the goal of keeping stressed assets below 3% of total loans.

More than $4.4b (VND100t) of bad debt has also been resolved from March to August, the SBV added.

Here’s more from Reuters: