Banks urged to lower interest rates
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) recently instructed credit institutions to continue to ease access to loans for enterprises by lowering interest rates, in a bid to assist struggling businesses and guarantee efficient bank operations this year.
The central bank said an overall lending growth rate of 12-14%, and total money supply expansion of 16-18%, will foster production and business activities, support economic growth and help curb inflation this year.
According to Government portal chinhphu.vn, the SBV has urged the institutions to cut costs and ensure financial safety, and it will intensify supervision of the monetary market for banking system security.
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It will take measures to facilitate co-operatives and households to borrow money more easily, while ensuring flexible policies to support prioritised sectors (agriculture and rural areas, support industries, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and exports).
It will maintain "reasonable" policy interest rates, including the refinancing rates, to assist home buyers and deal with bad debts in the property market. Debt trading through the Vietnam Asset Management Company will be sped up.
SBV will also tightly control foreign currency and gold markets to maintain the value of the Vietnamese dong and exchange rate stability, and improve national foreign exchange reserves as well as the international payment balance.