VIETNAMESE Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday (Mar 14) met with the country’s top businesses to discuss measures to shore up economic activity amid weak bank lending, the government said.

Vietnam’s economic growth largely moves in tandem with credit growth. The central bank targets a credit growth of 15 per cent for this year.

Banks’ total outstanding loans as at end-February fell 0.72 per cent from the end of last year, the government said in a statement.

“The global economy in 2024 is expected to continue to face numerous headwinds,” Chinh told the meeting attended by executives of the country’s top companies, including its largest conglomerate Vingroup, tech firm FPT and property developer Novaland.

The South-east Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, reported gross domestic product growth of 5.1 per cent last year, slowing from an expansion of 8 per cent in 2022.

Deputy central bank governor Dao Minh Tu said at the meeting that weak global demand and inflationary pressure were among the reasons behind the weak credit growth.

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The central bank, which cut its policy rates four times last year, will continue to work on measures to increase businesses’ accessibility to credit by further streamlining its legal frameworks and cutting banks’ operation costs, Tu said. REUTERS