HCMC banks loan $31.8 bln

Outstanding commercial bank loans in Ho Chi Minh City totaled VND620 trillion (US$31.8 billion) to the end of August, reports the State Bank of Vietnam.

Property loans stood at VND92.86 trillion ($4.76 billion) or 15 percent, and consumer loans at VND32.03 trillion ($1.64 billion) or 5.2 percent.

The remaining 80 percent was for production and business.

Deposits totaled VND683.5 trillion ($35.05 billion), up 13.3 percent year-on-year; dong deposits increased 16.3 percent and foreign currency deposits just 5.3 percent.

Remittances to HCMC banks totaled about $326 million, down 4.45 percent against July.

An estimated $3.7 billion in remittances has been sent to the city since January 1, up 20 percent against the first seven months of last year and the figure is expected to hit $6 billion by the end of the year.

Overseas Vietnamese have started to reinvest and the labor export market has expanded to raise remittances.
The State Bank of Vietnam's HCMC branch says foreign-exchange trading by commercial bank fell 22-25 percent in July against June.