The prime rate will remain unchanged at 7 percent for this month, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a statement released on Aug. 3.

The prime rate has remained unchanged since February, when the State Bank cut it from 8.25 to 7 percent – the lowest rate since 2004.

Pursuant do Decision No 1811/QD-NHNN, which took effect on August 1, the interest rate on VND-denominated loans would be capped at 10.5 percent per year, although interest on consumer and some other loans could range between 12 and 16.5 percent per year.

In the past week, banks were quoting lending rates at 8.5-10 percent on short-term loans in VND, 10-10.5 percent on longer-term loans.

Meanwhile, according to a State Bank weekly report, a number of commercial banks – including Orient Bank, Sacombank and Saigon-Hanoi Bank-were offering higher interest rates on deposits, by 0.2-0.3 percentage points, in the week of July 24-30. Currently, the highest deposit interest rate on offer is 10.2 percent , offered by both the Vietnam Tin Nghia Bank and the Housing Development Bank on 36-month deposits./.