Vietnam Finance Minister Says to Restrict Unsound Loans for Property

Vietnamese Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh told a press conference Monday in Hanoi that the ministry will take measures to cool down the overheated real estate market by tightening state control over unsound credits for property traders.

“The measures won’t interfere abruptly and directly in the real estate market, but will ensure the sustainable development,” Ninh told the local newspaper Pioneer.

“The ministry will adopt measures to tighten state control over projects, illegal transactions, and work on amendments and ordinance on land and housing taxes,” the minister noted.

So far there has no total loans local banks provided for property developers in Vietnam, but Ho Chi Minh City-based banks have lent VND35 trillion (US$2.187 billion), or 10 per cent of their outstanding loans. Last year of the city’s FDI investment the property sector accounted for 85 per cent of its total, Vietnam News Agency said.

Responding to opinions on stock margin account transactions, Ninh said the ministry is mulling the move.

Local banks have raised VND510 trillion (US$31.875 billion) by raising deposit rates since the beginning of this year, up roughly 60 per cent on year, the local newspaper Hai Quan Cuoi Tuan (Weekend Customs) said Saturday.

The banks have total outstanding loans of more than VND426 trillion (US$26.625 billion), up 76 per cent compared with the same period, the newspaper noted.

(Pioneer, Vneconomy)