On September 11, 2022, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended and made presentations at the 43rd Meeting of the Asian Consultative Council (ACC), which was organized in hybrid mode by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Also attending the Meeting, there was BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens, together with leaders of 13 ACC member central banks.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the Meeting
Right after the adoption of the Minutes of the 42nd ACC Meeting, which was held on March 9, 2022, the Meeting commenced the discussion sessions, focusing on two important topics: (i) Challenges for macro finance in Asia and the Pacific and the policy implications; and (ii) Climate change and the roles and activities of central banks.
The SBV Delegation at the Meeting
In her speech about the first topic, the SBV Governor expressed her agreement with the general views and assessments made at the Meeting. In addition, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also shared about the economic situation in Vietnam, and emphasized that the management of the macro-economic and the monetary policies in a proactive and flexible manner by the Government and the SBV, which has helped Vietnam to experience less serious impacts than other countries. As shared by the SBV Governor, in the first half of 2022, Vietnam’s GDP rose by 6.42% as compared to that of the same period of 2021; the CPI increased by 3.6% in August 2022 in comparison with that of December 2021. The SBV Governor also mentioned the challenges for Vietnam in the coming months, and stated her viewpoint of “the need for harmonized combination of multiple policies within the framework of macro financial stability, including the monetary policy, the fiscal policy and the macro safety policy” in the context of unpredictable fluctuations and global geo-political instabilities. About the specific measures, she added that, with the diversification of policy instruments, the SBV has always combined harmoniously the interest rate policy with the exchange rate policy, contributing to maintaining the stability of the exchange rates in the context of the FED’s increases of the interest rates. In comparison with other currencies in the region, by end of August 2022, the VND only depreciated by 2.8% against the USD. At the same time, the Government of Vietnam had conducted several measures, concentrating on different segments of the capital market in order to reduce the pressures on the credit channel from the banking sector.
Regarding the second topic about climate change and the roles of central banks, the SBV Governor mentioned that Vietnam is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Therefore, the Government of Vietnam has always been proactive in promulgating and improving the legal frameworks for green growth in order to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change. In the joint efforts of the international community in general and Vietnam in particular to implement the commitments made at COP26, the SBV has played an important role in managing and responding to climate and environmental risks through mobilizing resources and directing the capital flows into green, environmentally friendly areas. In the coming months, the SBV would continue to conduct the credit policies to promote activities of the banking industry towards the goals of green growth, contributing to the overall responses to global climate change.
Le Hang