Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) reported a pre-tax profit of more than VND5 trillion (US$220 million) in 2017, posting an increase of 20 per cent against the previous year.

The bank announced that its total assets reached some VND1.2 quadrillion, a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent. The capital mobilised was relatively high at VND1.1 quadrillion, rising by 15 per cent from the previous year’s figure.

The bank also reported outstanding loans amounting to more than VND900 trillion, 17.6 per cent higher compared to 2016. Its loans have primarily focused on agricultural production and the farming sector, aiming to support rural areas in Viet Nam.

According to Agribank’s chairman Trinh Ngoc Khanh, the bank had achieved all business targets assigned by the central bank in 2017.

Last year, Agribank implemented three preferential interest rate loan programmes, supporting over 2,000 corporate customers in high-tech agriculture, with a total amount of VND600 billion, said Khanh.

In October, the bank had also signed a co-operation agreement with the Viet Nam Asset Management Company to speeding up bad debt settlement. Accordingly, an amount of more than VND23 billion of non-performing loans was resolved under Resolution No. 42 of the National Assembly. — VNS