Many commercial banks have reduced interest rates on deposits which were raised to about 13 percent three months ago.

Among major banks, only the Asia Commercial Bank and Sacombank have still maintained their rates at 13 percent for 13-month deposits and 12.5 percent for 12-month deposits.

Techcombank made 12 percent their highest rate while Eximbank applied a new rate of 12 percent for both 12-month and 13-month deposits, a reduction on their previous rate of 12.3-12.8 percent.

Several banks are offering even lower rates, with Vietcombank dropping the amount to 10 percent for deposits with terms of 12-months and above. Agribank have altered rates to 11 percent for 12-month deposits and 11.5 percent for 18-month deposits.

Small banks, which recently raised interest rates to significantly high levels in order to compete with large competitors, have also now slashed these back down.

SeABank and WesternBank lowered deposit interest rates to around 12 percent. LienVietPostBank offered a rate of 11 percent for 12-month and 13-month deposits, and 11.5 percent for terms up to 24 months. The highest interest rate for long-term deposits is now 11 percent at the Vietnam International Bank.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam , as of October 19 the deposit growth of credit institutions reached 14 percent, more than five times the growth of their combined lending amount. Deposits in dong increased over 17.5 percent, while deposits in US dollars declined 1.55 percent. In total, people's deposits alone increased by 23 percent.-VNA