Japan, with its rich experience, is willing to assist Vietnam in settling down the bad debt of local banking system, said Ambassador to the Southeast Asian country Yasuaki Tanizaki on March 12. “We [Japan] went through similar troubles more than ten years ago and the country implemented many mechanisms and policies to resolve those problems,” the diplomat said at a seminar on the Japanese economy in Hanoi. A decade ago, Japan successfully operated an asset management company to deal with non-performing loans, a project currently considered by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country’s central bank, Mr. Tanizaki said, adding that cooperation between Japan agencies and the SBV is still modest. The ambassador also said that Japanese agencies were helping Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment draw up an action plan to accelerate Vietnam’s industrialization process till 2020. Japan is among important trade partners of Vietnam and currently the biggest official development assistance (ODA) provider to the Southeast Asian country, having pledged a total $20 billion in ODA for Vietnam since 1992. An government official said last month that ratio of non-performing loans has recently decreased to 6% from the 8%-plus at the end of last year, thanks to provision funds of local commercial banks. (VnExpress.vn Mar 13)
