The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has purchased $6 billion this year to consolidate its foreign exchange reserves.

This is part of currency policies to stabilize the average interest rate, according to the central bank.

As of mid-May, the average lending interest rate was down by 0.65 per cent compared to the second half of 2022, at around 9.3 per cent per annum.

Meanwhile, the average deposit rate at commercial banks is now some 6.3 per cent per annum, down 0.18 per cent from the second half of last year.

In order to tackle difficulties facing the economy and support growth recovery under guidelines from the Prime Minister, the central bank cut the annual interest rate twice, in March and April, by 0.5-1 percentage points.

The SBV has also taken measures to reduce lending interest rates to ease difficulties facing businesses and individuals.