On March 29th, 2018, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Le Minh Hung had a meeting with Mr. Takehiko Nakao - President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
At the meeting, Governor Le Minh Hung warmly welcomed the ADB delegation led by President Takehiko Nakao back in Vietnam to join the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-Region Summit (GMS-6) and 10th Cambodia – Laos – Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10) in Hanoi.
SBV Governor Le Minh Hung went on by briefing the Delegation on the results of the SBV’s monetary policy management and the banking performance in 2017 and in the first months of 2018. Accordingly, the monetary policy management has been proactive, flexible with the core inflation kept at 1.41%.
About the tasks of the banking sector in 2018, Governor Le Minh Hung shared that the SBV would continue to manage the monetary policy in a proactive, flexible and prudent manner, in close collaboration with the fiscal policy and other macro policies in order to control the inflation, stabilize the monetary and financial system and the country’s macro-economy, thereby contributing to the economic growth at a reasonable level, ensuring the liquidity of the credit institutions and stabilizing the money and forex market… At the same time, accelerating the implementation of the Scheme on restructuring credit institutions in combination with settling bad debt in the period 2016 - 2020. The Governor highly appreciated the ADB's support to the SBV in the implementation of technical assistance and loans provided to the banking and finance sector.
Governor Le Minh Hung highly appreciated the leadership of President Takehiko Nakao in managing and developing the ADB's overall development strategy until 2030. The SBV fully supports the ADB's 2030 strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations, and to sustain the support for the member countries in addressing the issues such as poverty, inequitable development, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the promotion of the private sector.
The SBV Governor stated that the relationship between the ADB and Vietnam has been growing strongly and effectively. Vietnam attaches great importance to the relationship with the ADB and considers the ADB as one of the leading sponsors in providing funds, technical assistance and consultancy for development. Up to now, the ADB has provided Vietnam with over 165 programs/projects totaling more than USD 16 billion. The ADB’s support has been effective in supporting the country's socio-economic development.
To support the banking and finance sector, the ADB has provided a variety of program loans and Technical Assistance (TA) to assist the Government and the SBV in reforming the banking and microfinance policies in recent years. The reform policies committed by the Government of Vietnam to the ADB have been coming into life, contributing to the development of the banking and microfinance sector in Vietnam.
The SBV Governor expressed his hopes that, in the coming time, the ADB would continue to provide necessary support to Vietnam so that Vietnam could maximize the benefits achieved with the ADB’s support in the past in the pursuit of economic reform and poverty reduction goals.
In response, the ADB President congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in poverty reduction, macroeconomic stability, and inflation control. The ADB President viewed Vietnam as one of the countries with high and impressive economic growth in the region and noted the importance of pursuing the goal of macroeconomic stability - an critical factor for comprehensive and sustainable growth.
The ADB President stated that Vietnam will graduate from the ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund (ADF) in the near future, which is an significant part in the review and development of the ADB's strategy. However, the ADB would still develop appropriate support mechanisms so that after Vietnam has graduated from the ADF, there will not be any disruptions for Vietnam’s cause of economic restructuring and achieving sustainable poverty reduction goals.
ADB President Takehiko Nakao emphasized that the relationship between the ADB and Vietnam has been strengthened over the years. Vietnam, as an ADB member, has a key role in the ADB's cooperation strategy, and Vietnam always receives much support from the ADB's most senior leaderships.
VA