The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced that it will reduce the refinancing rate by 0.5 points to 5.5 per cent from April 3 to support economic growth.

The overnight electronic interbank rate will be kept at the current 6.0 per cent.

The discount rate will also remain unchanged at 3.5 per cent.

This is the second time the SBV has decided to cut key policy interest rates this year.

The decisions were made in the context of production and trade facing many difficulties and export drivers declining in the first quarter of the year, coupled with uncertainties in the global economy, according to the central bank.

On March 14, it decided to cut the rediscount rate to 3.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent, applicable from the next day.

Vietnam’s economy slowed to 3.32 per cent in the first quarter, the second-lowest growth rate in the last 12 years, the General Statistics Office reported.