The country gains the lending growth of over 15 per cent over 2012.— Photo kinhte24h.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Governor, Nguyen Van Binh, announced that lending by credit institutions increased by 12.51 per cent in 2013 from a year ago, when he attended a business review meeting by Vietcombank on January 10, according to local media reports.

The figure was a surprise for experts, as the central bank had earlier announced that lending by credit institutions until December 12, 2013, had increased by 8.83 per cent.

Meanwhile, individual banks also released their annual loan growth figures. Vietcombank said it had VND275.2 trillion (US$13.1billion) of outstanding loans by the end of 2013, representing a year-on-year growth of 14.5 per cent. Agribank reported VND530.6 trillion ($25.2billion) of outstanding loans, an increase of 10.4 per cent compared with the corresponding figure in 2012.

Vientinbank reported an annual growth of 14.7 per cent in lending activities, while Orient Commercial Bank reported an 18 per cent growth. Bao Viet Bank said annual lending activities grew by 12.51 per cent in 2013.— VNS