Reducing loan interest rates an important policy to support businesses: central bank deputy governor

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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has been drastically implementing measures, particularly those to reduce loan interest rates, said its deputy governor Dao Minh Tu at a regular government press conference on May 5, calling it one of the important and practical policies to help businesses.

In the first four months of the year, the bank implemented eight policies to support businesses and since the beginning of the year, the SBV has reduced the regulatory interest rate twice, the official said.

Tu said that in general, credit institutions reduce deposit interest by 1-1.2%, and reduce the general lending interest rate of banks in the whole system by 0.5-0.65%. Particularly, state-owned commercial banks saw a more positive reduction with deposit interest rates being decreased by 1-1.5%, and lending rates by 1.5-2%. According to SBV’s statistics, for new deposits and newly made loans and credits, the average deposit rate is 6-6.1% and the average lending interest rate is 9-9.2%.

The figures show positive adjustments for interest rates, said Tu.

Responding to the public expectation of lowering interest rates in the coming time, the official said the bank will continue implementing flexible and reasonable monetary policies, ensuring the main objectives of controlling inflation and stabilising the value of the local currency and the harmonisation between the exchange and interest rates. Therefore, the SBV is continuing to instruct banks to cut interest rates, creating conditions for enterprises to borrow, and expand credit from now to the end of this year./.