On October 3, 2023, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha had a meeting with Mr. Kouqing Li, Director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).
SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha meets AMRO Director
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha warmly welcomed the working visit of the AMRO mission to Vietnam. The SBV Deputy Governor highly acknowledged AMRO for its contributions and support through its regular research reports, the macro-economic supervision and the issuance of early warnings and the development of the economic outlooks in the member countries. Under the leadership of Mr. Kouqing Li, AMRO has been performing effectively its role as a macroeconomic research institution in the region through the three key pillars of its operations: (i) macro-economic supervision; (ii) formulation and operation of a financial safety-net in the region; (iii) implementation of the technical assistance for the capacity development in the finance and banking sector. AMRO's recently adopted operational strategy has realized its vision and mission of contributing to the financial stability and promoting the economic growth in the region.
Sharing about the domestic macro-economic situation in Vietnam and the SBV’s management of the monetary policy, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha said that, over the past 9 months of 2023, Vietnam’s economy grew by 4.24% as compared with the same period last year. For nine months of 2023, the average core inflation was up by 4.49% as compared with that of the same period of 2022, higher than the average CPI increase (up by 3.16%). It is estimated that the inflation for 2023 could be controlled at the lower level than the target of 4.5%.
The participants from AMRO and the SBV take a group photo
Moreover, the SBV Deputy Governor also shared that, in the process of formulating and operating the monetary policy, the SBV always maintains its consistency and prioritizes the goals of maintaining the macro-economic stability, controlling the inflation, and supporting the economic growth when the policy priorities have been ensured. In the 9 months of 2023, the SBV had managed the exchange rates in a flexible and appropriate manner, ready to make interventions when necessary. In addition, the SBV had reduced the key interest rates to support the economy, which has been facing many difficulties. Specifically, the SBV had reduced the key interest rates for four consecutive times, with a total decrease of 0.5-2% p.a. in light of the hiking interest rates around the world.
For his part, the Director of AMRO expressed his opinion that Vietnam has recovered positively after the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is currently experiencing adverse impacts from the global economic developments. In the first half of 2023, Vietnam's economic growth slowed down due to the external impacts and a downturn in the domestic real estate market. However, the Government of Vietnam has been successful in controlling the inflation, which had decreased to 2% in July 2023 from 4.9% in January 2023. The AMRO mission acknowledged the SBV’s efforts in operating the monetary policy in line with the macro-economic developments and foundations, reflected specifically by a stable USD/VND exchange rate and a well-controlled inflation rate. These are favorable factors that enable the SBV to loosen the monetary policy to support the economy.
Moreover, the Director of AMRO also thanked the SBV for having supported AMRO's initiatives and activities. The two sides shared a common view on the important role of AMRO in maintaining, operating and continuously improving the readiness of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization Agreement (CMIM). This is an initiative that has received the attention and appreciation of the ASEAN+3 Central Bank Governors as a regional financial safety net to promptly support the liquidity for the economy through different means when the balance of payments encounters difficulties. The initiative is a symbol of the solidarity in the ASEAN+3 region and is one of the important factors contributing to ensuring the safety and security of the banking and financial system in the context of integration with the world economy.
Regarding AMRO’s technical assistance, the SBV Deputy Governor highly appreciated AMRO’s efforts to build up the capacity for the member countries. Regarding the secondment program, over the past time, AMRO has received a lot of officers from the Central Banks and the Ministries of Finance of the ASEAN+3 countries to work in a professional environment. At AMRO, those officers have had the opportunity to improve their knowledge, accumulate their experience, and made great contributions when returning to their agencies. The SBV Deputy Governor expressed his beliefs that AMRO's new initiatives, such as the organization of the regional economic forums and the training programs on leadership skills in the finance and banking sector, would bring about many successes, and expand the network of policy coordination among the regional Central Banks and Ministries of Finance.
Toward the end of the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha and the Director of AMRO agreed to further strengthen the cooperation between the SBV and AMRO in the coming time.
Le Hang