HANOI, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Most credit institutions in Vietnam, including branches of foreign banks, expect their business performance in 2019 to be better than last year despite the slowdown in credit growth, according to the latest survey by the country's central bank.
Specifically, 91 percent of credit institutions forecast their pre-tax profits in 2019 to grow against last year, whereas 3 percent expected them to remain unchanged, local daily newspaper Vietnam News cited the survey conducted in September as reporting on Tuesday.
About 76.5 percent of credit institutions stated that their business performance improved significantly in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, and 82.3 percent expect their business performance in the fourth quarter to be better than those seen in the previous one.
Total loans at banks are expected to edge up by 4.85 percent in the fourth quarter and expand by 13.61 percent this year, down 0.72 percentage points compared to the level in the previous survey conducted in June.
As of Sept. 26, credit growth of the banking system was reported at 8.64 percent against the end of 2018, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.
Total loans of the system grew 14 percent last year, falling short of the target 17 percent. The central bank has set the 2019 credit growth target at about 14 percent.
