In his remarks at the Workshop: Solutions to remove obstacles in accessing credit capital for the collective economic sector held this morning, April 23, in Hanoi, a representative of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that, with the consistent goal of controlling inflation, stabilizing the macro-economy, contributing to stabilizing the business environment, supporting economic growth, in the recent past, the SBV has proactively and flexibly managed monetary policy, using synchronous monetary policy tools to flexibly regulate liquidity, ensuring stability of the monetary market, the business environment, and the availability of capital supply for the economy.
Since the beginning of 2024, the SBV has continued to keep the operating interest rates unchanged in the context of global interest rates remaining high, creating conditions for credit institutions (CIs) to access capital sources from the SBV at low costs. The SBV has also continued to encourage CIs to reduce costs in order to reduce lending interest rates in support of the economy.
Overview of the workshop.
According to SBV statistics, new lending and deposit interest rates of commercial banks have declined compared to the end of 2023. By March 10, 2024, the average deposit interest rate of new transactions was 3.2%/year, while the average lending interest rate of new transactions was 6.6%/year.
The SBV has also set a ceiling on short-term lending interest rates for priority sectors such as agriculture, rural areas, exports, supporting industries, and CNC applications to enjoy lower interest rates than normal production and business sectors. The current ceiling interest rate is 5.5%/year for customers with transparent and sound financial situations.
In 2024, based on the economic growth target of 6-6.5% in 2024 and the inflation target of 4-4.5% set by the National Assembly and the Government, the SBV aims for credit growth of around 15%.
To facilitate CIs in supplying credit capital to the economy, on December 31, 2023, the SBV allocated the entire credit growth target for 2024 to CIs and publicly announced the principles for determining credit growth so that CIs can proactively implement credit growth.
At the same time, CIs are required to achieve safe credit growth, in line with their risk management capacity, liquidity situation, and capital mobilization capability, ensuring credit quality, using capital for the right purposes and effectively, limiting the increase in bad debts, and ensuring safe operation; directing credit to the production and business sector, giving priority to growth drivers in line with the Government’s policies; and controlling credit for sectors with potential risks.
In addition, the SBV strictly prohibits the provision of credit that is not in accordance with legal regulations, to the wrong subjects, and the provision of credit to the board of directors, the executive board, and related parties of CIs, ecosystem enterprises, and backyard enterprises, etc., at preferential interest rates.
The SBV will also continue to maintain a stable level of deposit interest rates and strive to reduce lending interest rates. At the same time, it will regularly review and cut or reduce procedures in accordance with legal regulations, creating favorable conditions and supporting businesses and people in accessing bank credit.
As a result, by the end of March 2024, credit to the economy had increased by 0.89% compared to the end of 2023. With abundant liquidity in the CI system and ample room for credit growth, CIs are now in a favorable position to provide loans to the economy.
