Banking & Finance

Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) noted that the 12-month deposit interest rate had increased again by the end of July, by 0.07 percentage points to 5.77 per cent per annum. Rates may rise again in August. Instead of an increase of 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points, some banks raised rates by between 0.1 and 0.6 percentage points compared to June.

The interbank VND interest rate has fallen from 5.13 per cent per annum to 2.67 per cent, significantly narrowing the gap between VND and USD rates. This may put pressure on the exchange rate in the near term.

A number of securities companies believe that now is the best time to accumulate steel stocks, as current valuations are attractive. At the same time, revenue and profit margins at steel enterprises will improve in the second half of this year thanks to a range of positive factors, in particular construction steel demand being expected to recover shortly and public investment disbursement accelerating to the end of the year.

The Ministry of Justice will submit a draft Decree to the government amending and supplementing a number of articles on online auctions. The draft stipulates the order for conducting online auctions and establishing a unified online auction site nationwide that will be built, operated, and managed by the Ministry.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has issued Official Letter No. 7955/BTC-QLG to ministries, branches, people’s committees of cities and provinces, and corporations proposing that price management and stabilization be strengthened. Tasks proposed to be implemented include balancing the supply and demand of goods and services and actively advising authorities on stabilization.

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hong, issued a tough message on August 11 about the credit growth limit and stabilizing the macro-economy. She also said the SBV and the banking industry in general share the difficulties facing businesses and there are many policies in place to exempt and reduce interest rates and fees for businesses and individuals, totaling about VND50 trillion ($2.17 billion).