The deposit interest rates for VND in July decreased about 0.5 – 0.8 percent over the past month, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

At present, the annual VND deposit interest rates were ranging between 16 and 18 percent, instead of previous levels of 19 – 21 percent.

A Eximbank executive said that due to massive purchase of USD for reserve, the SBV had supplied a large amount of VND to the market. Additionally, banks successfully mobilised a considerable amount of capital that eased liquidity concerns.

Le Duc Tho, Deputy General Director of Vietinbank said that tightened credit in real estate and securities was also a factor to cool down input interest rates.

Declining deposit interest rates pushed lending rates for the production sector down slightly from 0.1 to 0.3 percent a year, to 18.64 percent a year on average. Meanwhile, lending rates for the non-production sector rose about 0.5 percent a year, standing at 20 – 25 percent a year.

According to some commercial banks, deposit interest rates were unlikely to fall much in the near future as banks must maintain liquidity, while inflation was forecast to remain at more than 17 percent./.