In the afternoon of December 29, 2021 in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) organized a hybrid (both physical and virtual) Conference to announce and disseminate the tasks of the banking sector in 2022.
The Conference was attended by H.E. Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai; H.E. Mr. Huynh Tan Viet, Secretary of the Party Committee of the central government agencies; H.E. Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Minister of Home Affairs; H.E. Mr. Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Industry and Trade; H.E. Mr. Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; H.E. Mr. Doan Hong Phong, Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate; H.E. Mr. Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment; H.E. Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications; H.E. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh, Chairman of the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises; together with representatives from other ministries and central government agencies.
From the banking sector, there was H.E. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, SBV Governor, together with the SBV Deputy Governors; leaders from the Banking Supervision Agency and other SBV entities; Directors of the SBV municipal and provincial branches; Chairpersons of the Boards of Directors/Boards of Management and CEOs of various credit institutions, etc.
In her opening speech, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong emphasized that the year 2021 had witnessed the occurring of many important events. This had been the first year in which the country began the implementation of the new 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-2026). During the same year, the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had caused serious impacts on all aspects of the socio-economic life. In that context, the Party, the State and the Government had promptly and timely adopted synchronous, drastic and creative policies to overcome the most difficult time, rapidly moved to a safe adaptation period in the fight against the pandemic, and enhanced the economic development.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong delivers an opening speech at the Conference
According to Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, in 2021, there were many challenges for the monetary policy management while the global economy experienced many fluctuations, the people and businesses suffered adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. However, 2021 had also been a special year, marking the 70th Anniversary of the birth of Vietnam Banking Sector. Therefore, the entire banking industry had concentrated on implementing strongly and effectively the assigned tasks.
An overview of the Conference
At the Conference, First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu made a brief presentation on the results of the banking operations in 2021 and orientations for 2022. Accordingly, implementing the directions of the Government and the Prime Minister in a proactive and flexible manner, the banking sector has effectively conducted the solutions for the management of the monetary policy and the banking operations in order to control the inflation, contributing to maintaining the macroeconomic stability. Beside that, the banking industry has proactively followed the market developments and focused all available resources on resolving the difficulties in production and business, supporting the COVID-affected businesses and people, contributing to enhancing the recovery of the economic growth
First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu makes a brief presentation on the results of the banking operations at the Conference
In 2021, the SBV has managed the monetary tools in a comprehensive manner to regulate the liquidity appropriately; the money market has been stable; the inter-bank interest rates have been remained at low levels, supporting the credit institutions to reduce their capital costs, thereby allowing them to cut down their lending interest rates.
The SBV has also coordinated closely with the relevant ministries and state agencies to manage the monetary policies, the commodity and service prices; made forecasts of the inflation with a view to controlling it. Thanks to those measures, the inflation in 2021 was controlled at a level which is lower than the target of 4% as set by the National Assembly and the Government; the average inflation was about 2%, the lowest level since 2016. The core inflation was also at a low level, contributing to maintaining the macro-economic stability, strengthening the public confidence, and attracting FDI.
Besides, the SBV has continued to implement several solutions to control the credit scale in association with credit quality improvement. The SBV also flexibly adjusted credit targets for credit institutions, expanding credit healthily, reducing lending interest rates, promptly supplying capital for the people and enterprises. Credit continued to focus on production, priority areas and policy credit programs. The SBV strictly controlled credit in potentially risky areas, implementing effectively credit policy programs at Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.
With the SBV's synchronous instructions and solutions, despite the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the credit for the whole economy started to increase right from the beginning of the year, and reached a higher level than that of the same period in 2020. The total loan outstanding increased by 12.97% as compared to that of end 2020.
After having cut down the key interest rates three times in 2020, in 2021 the SBV continued to remain the key interest rates at low levels to create favorable conditions for the credit institutions to access the SBV’s capital resource with low cost, allowing them to further cut down their lending interest rates. In addition, the SBV had also requested the credit institutions to reduce by maximum their operational costs, adjusting their business plans and profit targets in order to focus on reducing their lending interest rates for the existing and new borrowers.
In 2021, the SBV continued to closely monitor the credit institutions' implementation of the approved restructuring schemes; reviewing and making appropriate adjustments in line with the practical situations, and addressing any arising constraints and obstacles in a timely manner; promptly warning and removing difficulties during the implementation by the credit institutions.
Especially, in 2021, the SBV had issued many action plans and programs, improved the legal frameworks to enhance the digital transformation in the banking sector.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh launches the emulation movement in the banking sector for 2022
At this Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai also made a speech giving his comments and directions for the banking sector. Beside that, the representatives from several ministries, central government agencies and commercial banks also delivered their discussion notes.
Also at the Conference, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh launched the emulation movement in the banking sector for 2022.
In her concluding remarks at the Conference, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong requested the entire banking sector to thoroughly grasp the orientations, the objectives of controlling the inflation, maintaining the macro-economic stability, supporting the economic recovery and development, managing the monetary policies in a proactive and flexible manner in association with the fiscal policies and other macro policies, improving the resilience to any economic fluctuations in the international and domestic markets; thoroughly grasp the policy of expanding credit in parallel with ensuring the credit safety and security, focusing all available resources on production and business operations, and controlling credit for potentially risky areas; effectively implementing the restructuring of the credit institutions in association with NPL resolution; promoting the digital transformation and enhancing the accessibility to commercial utilities for the people and enterprises, contributing to realizing the policy of developing a digital economy and a digital society, etc.
Le Hang