“The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is always actively prepared to implement measures for managing the exchange rates and to intervene in the forex market when there is any issue with the supplies and demands of the foreign currencies, in order to ensure the smooth operations of the forex market”, SBV Governor Le Minh Hung stated at an online Government’s meeting with the local authorities on July 2, 2018.
SBV headquarters
Speaking at the meeting, Governor Le Minh Hung agreed with the reports of the Government’s Office and the Ministry of Planning and Investment about the socio-economic situations in the first six months.
About the management of the monetary policy and the core inflation, Governor Le Minh Hung stated that the core inflation by end of June increased by 1.37% as compared to that of the same period of 2017; the average core inflation for the first six months of 2018 rose by 1.35%. The developments of the core inflation ranged from 1.3%-1.5%, which was relatively stable. This reflects that the monetary policy and the measures of stabilizing the macro-economy have been managed in line with the Government’s and the SBV’s directions, contributing to the macro-economic stability, controlling the inflation at level of below 4% in line with the targets set by the National Assembly and the Government.
“The interest rates were stable in the first six months, especially the common lending rates were reduced by 0.5%, helping enterprises and individuals to get access to the bank loans”, the SBV Governor said.
About the management of the exchange rates and the forex market, he said that, by end of June, the forex market was still stable, the exchange rate for the first six months increased by about 1%, all the legitimate demands for foreign currencies were met fully.
About the credit management, Governor Le Minh Hung asserted that the SBV, right from the beginning of the year, instructed the credit institutions to focus credits for the prioritized sectors of production and trade. The growth rates of various sectors of the economy showed the compatibility with the credit structure of the banking sector.
In response to the information about an increase of the exchange rate, Governor Le Minh Hung said that it was mainly due to the effects of the USD appreciation in the international market and the developments of imports. He asserted that the SBV is always actively prepared with measures for managing the exchange rate and to intervene in the forex market when there is any issue with the supplies and demands of the foreign currencies, in order to ensure the smooth operations of the forex market. He said: “we definitely have necessary instruments and plans to intervene in the forex market, in order to ensure the control of and stability of the macro-economic situation”.
Moreover, the SBV Governor emphasized that in order to attain the objective of controlling the inflation, the SBV, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should coordinate closely to regulate the common instruments and the macro policies. About the monetary policy management, the SBV will take active measures to control the situations.
Le Hang