Vietnamese banks have reduced loan interest rates by 1.5-2 percentage points from end-2022, exceeding the initially-expected decrease of 1.5 percentage points, and the trend is likely to continue.
It is the time of the year that the demand for credit often soars to keep abreast with demand from individuals and businesses at the year-end. Nguyen Thanh Tung, CEO of Vietcombank, scrutinised the lender’s measures to bolster credit growth and surmount challenges in the current context with VIR’s Nhue Man.
Private lenders ABBank, Techcombank, GPBank and SeABank and state-controlled Vietcombank have become the first five Vietnamese banks to cut their 12-month deposit interest rates to below 5.5%.
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) raised the central exchange rate from VND24,088 to VND24,089 per U.S. dollar on Friday, another record high, but the rates at commercial banks moved in the opposite direction.
The Vietnamese dong has continued to devalue against the U.S. dollar to a new low, with the greenback remaining strong ahead of a Federal Reserve (Fed) policy meeting.