Interest rates

To support economic activity, in early March the government unveiled a USD10.8 billion (0.4% of gross domestic product) credit relief package of debt restructuring and lowered interest rates and fees. The government also launched a fiscal package worth USD1.3 billion that reduces taxes and fees for affected firms and defers tax payment, and the fiscal support is expected to rise. The central bank also cut policy rates by 0.5-1.0%, lowered interest rate caps on dong deposits of less than 6 months and on short-term dong lending to prioritized sectors. The economy’s fundamentals remain resilient, according to ADB’s flagship annual economic publication, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020. If the pandemic is contained within the first half of 2020, growth should rebound to 6.8% in 2021—ADB’s pre-COVID-19 forecast for Vietnam in 2020—and remain strong over the medium and long-term. “Despite the deceleration in economic activity and the downside … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s economic growth rate forecasted to slow to 4.8% in 2020

Among commercial joint stock banks, Saigon Bank (SCB) and Nam A Bank have launched the highest online saving interest rates for six-month and 12-month terms, between 8.03 per cent and 8.66 per cent per year – 0.9-1.2 percentage points higher than traditional deposits. … [Read more...] about Banks offer higher rates for online savings to draw clients amid COVID-19 battle

“I think that monetary policy measures are only supportive measures, which require the support of fiscal policy through support packages to help businesses severely affected by COVID-19 to have the liquidity to pay for partners, pay salaries and pay interest," Hieu said./. … [Read more...] about Banks support enterprises in various forms

Foreign investors made outright purchases of more than 7.3 trillion VND (306.2 million USD) and outright sales of over 9.2 trillion VND (385.9 million USD). They made repos sales of 193 billion VND (8 million USD). … [Read more...] about Over 9.72 trillion VND raised from Government bonds in March

According to the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 disease prevention and control, the growth rate of COVID-19 cases in Việt Nam is much slower than in other parts of the world, largely thanks to the country’s decisive early action to slow the spread of the virus. … [Read more...] about Risk of coronavirus community transmission high: expert