An interest rate adjustment and the purchase of additional bad debts in the near future were revealed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) at a press conference on February 28.

Head of the SBV Monetary Policy Department Nguyen Thi Hong said that once the macroeconomic stability and sound liquidity are achieved, the central bank will consider removing the deposit interest ceiling. The current cap for six-month deposits is below 7 percent.

In the sequent months, the SBV will continue to require local credit institutions to reduce annual lending rates to below 13 percent and housing loans to 5 percent, down 1 percent from last year.

The bank official also noted Vietnam’s foreign exchange market and rate of exchange have been stabilised in the first two months of this year.

It has purchased a large amount of foreign currencies to add to the national foreign currency reserves. By February 26, local commercial banks had posted the exchange rate between VND and USD at 21,080 VND - 21,120 VND per USD.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) has purchased over 39 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD) in bad debts from 35 domestic commercial banks and issued special bonds worth 31 trillion VND (1.45 billion USD), said VAMC Vice President Nguyen Quoc Hung at the event.

Now, the State-owned company is considering the additional purchase of 7 trillion VND (329 million USD) in bad debts and targets 10 trillion VND (473 million USD) in the first quarter of this year.

Hong of the SBV asserted the bank this year will continue to actively adjust its monetary approach in flexible coordination with a fiscal policy in a bid to curb inflation and ensure appropriate growth.-VNA