The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s permanent Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu has asked inspection and supervision agencies to closely monitor interest rates at banks to prevent high lending rates and support businesses facing difficulties.

Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on April 25 on credit work and the implementation of Circular No. 02/2023 on solutions to support credit growth, Mr. Tu said that although average interest rates have declined there are banks reported to still have abnormally high lending rates.

SBV branches in localities will deal with the situation, he said.

Director of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department Pham Chi Quang said the government and the central bank have continually issued policies to help businesses and people and remove difficulties in the real estate and corporate bonds markets, such as increasing money supply and reducing interest rates.

Since the beginning of this year, the SBV has reduced regulatory interest rates twice, while interest rates on new loans have fallen 0.6 per cent compared to the end of 2022 and will be on a downwards trend into the future.

The central bank has also bought a large volume of foreign currencies to increase its foreign exchange reserves.