It expects banks to achieve such exceptional growth this quarter since they have increased provisions to cover their non-performing loans in the previous quarter.

NPLs surged to a three-year high in 2020, it said.

A bank teller counting VND notes at a branch in Hanoi.

State-owned VietinBank's chairman Le Duc Tho has said pre-tax profit for the first quarter is expected to surge by over 133 percent year-on-year to VND7-8 trillion ($304-347 million) without including the upfront fee for its bancassurance deal with Canadian insurer Manulife.

SSI forecast the industry’s full-year profit to grow by 24 percent, boosted by 15 percent credit growth expected this year and a decrease in lending costs.

The high growth expectation is reflected in the gains made by banking stocks and the fillip they have given to the benchmark VN-Index, which has risen by 8.1 percent this year to close at 1194.05 on Friday.

Garment exports to Eurasian Economic Union might have exceeded quota

Some textile and garment items which are entitled to preferential tariffs in the Eurasian Economic Union under a bilateral free trade agreement exceeded the quota last year.

Da Nang to outline regional finance center project

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has allowed Da Nang City to draw up a project that would turn it into a regional-level finance center.

Source: VnExpress