The Hanoitimes – The banking sector has committed to the Prime Minister for an additional reduction of 0.5% in lending rates as of January 9. As such, Vietcombank is the first bank realizing this commitment. The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highly regarded the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) effort in macro economic management in 2017 at the meeting on the banking mission in 2018. Firstly, the SBV has actively and flexibly managed monetary policies, taking the inflation rate under 3.53%, which is lower than original target set by the National Assembly. This favorable condition has allowed the government to create rooms for improving effectiveness of fiscal policies. Secondly, the domestic foreign exchange market and the gold market have been kept in stable and in positive trends, creating favorable conditions to support export activities. “An efficient exchange rate policy is instrumental to bring the foreign exchange reserves to an all-time record high of US$53 billion, contributing to Vietnam’s improved credibility in global financial market, and building trust among foreign investors, organizations and individuals”, the Prime Minister said. The government is committed to protect legal rights and interests of depositors – the leader of the government added. Thirdly, the banking sector continues its role as the main supplier of capital to the economy, with the total credit balance as of the end of 2017 reached US$284 billion, an increase of 18% over the last year’s figure. With this being said, the banking sector has pumped an additional of US$52.5 billion to… [Read full story]
Banks are now requested to lower lending interest rates on their old debts to below 15 percent a year, and at most 13 percent for loans targeting the preferential sectors, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh said at a meeting Saturday. “Liquidity has been improved and inflation has been restricted to 2.52 percent, creating conditions for both deposit and lending interest rates to be lowered,” said Binh. Binh urged that lending rates should be cut in order to achieve the target credit growth and contribute to national economic growth. “Banks will receive nothing, neither of the…... [read more]
The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has announced short-term lending interest rates for the Vietnamese dong at 17.5 percent per year and for the US dollar at 9.5 percent per year, to be applied as of April. Medium-term and long-term interest rates now stand at 18 percent per year for the Vietnamese dong and 10.6 percent for the US dollar. The BIDV has planned to reduce its lending interest rates for the Vietnamese dong to 15.5 percent per year. To gain a competitive edge, large commercial joint stock banks have decided to cut down their interest…... [read more]
While businesses have repeatedly complained about high lending interest rates, banks said the exorbitant interbank lending rates, the shortfall of mobilized capital, and the fact that certain banks are breaching the deposit interest rate caps have prevented them from cutting rates. The director of a glass manufacturer in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District said she had to delay her plan to borrow bank loans worth VND20 billion (US$960,000) to be used to expand the company’s production facility next year since the business still has to pay off loans for this year, at an interest rate of 23 percent…... [read more]
After a positive first six months credit growth has remained largely flat Photo: Le Toan According to State Bank figures, credit growth as of October this year grew by 6.8 per cent. Counting the risk provision and NPLs handled by the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC), credit growth stood at 7.89 per cent. However, this credit growth was not much of an improvement over last August’s figures of 6.45 per cent. In 2013, credit growth initially made good headway by jumping from 0.1 per cent at the end of March, to 3.31 per cent at the end of June this…... [read more]
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called on all local banks to implement "reasonable" interest rate cuts in a bid to boost economic growth. “Together with the rate cut, banks should expand credit, prioritizing loans for manufacturing and processing firms, SMEs and exporters,” Phuc said at a meeting on Tuesday. Vietnamese companies still rely heavily on bank loans, experts said. Banks now offer annual lending interest rates of 6.8-11 percent to manufacturing enterprises and businesses. According to the National Supervisory Commission, macroeconomic factors such as inflation and foreign exchange rates are expected to remain stable this year, making it…... [read more]
